A Comprehensive Research On The Premillennialism Doctrine - Pablo Horna PDF

A COMPREHENSIVE RESEARCH ON
PREMILLENIALISM
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A Research on the Premillennialism Doctrine
Presented to
B.J Clarke
Memphis School of Preaching
Memphis, Tennessee
___________________
As a Requirement in
Course #424
Premillennialism
____________________
By
Pablo Horna
10/10/2017
TABLE OF CONTENT
1 CLASS NOTES ..................................................................................................................... 7
2 RULES FROM INTERPRETING PROPHECY. ........................................................... 15

Define And Defeat........................................................................................................... 16
True .................................................................................................................................. 17
Interpreting Apocalyptical Literature (Clyde M. Miller) .......................................................... 18
The Interpretation Of Prophecy (Edward C. Wharton) ............................................................. 30
Interpreting Old Testament Prophecy (Dale W. Manor) ........................................................... 42
Error ................................................................................................................................ 45
The Interpretation Of Prophecy (Dr. David R. Reagan) ........................................................... 46
Basic Considerations In Interpreting Prophecy (John F. Walvoord) ........................................ 51
The Interpretation Of Biblical Prophecy (Oral E. Collins, Ph.D) ............................................. 57
3 THE KINGDOM THE PROPHETS SAW ...................................................................... 63
Define And Defeat........................................................................................................... 64
True .................................................................................................................................. 65
Isaiah 2 And Daniel 2 – The Coming Kingdom/Church (Mike Mcdaniel) ............................... 66
The Kingdom The Prophets Saw (Richard Rogers) .................................................................. 75
The Eternal Kingdom (James L. Meadows) .............................................................................. 88
Error ................................................................................................................................ 92
What Is The Kingdom Of God? (David Treybig) ..................................................................... 93
The Kingdom Of God In The Old Testament: The Prophetic Hope (Ben Dunson) .................. 95
Jesus And The Millennium (John F Mcarthur) ......................................................................... 99
4 CHRIST ON DAVID’S THRONE .................................................................................. 103
Define And Defeat......................................................................................................... 104
True ................................................................................................................................ 105
Christ And The Throne Of David (F. Furman Kearley).......................................................... 106
Christ As Davidic King (Cecil R. May, Jr.) ............................................................................ 113
The Coming King (James L. Meadows) ................................................................................. 116
Christ On David’s Throne -- Acts 2:29-35 (James Maxwell) ................................................. 121
Error .............................................................................................................................. 130
Does Christ Occupy David’s Throne Now? (Frederic R. Howe) ............................................ 131
The Biblical Evidence That Jesus Is Returning To Reign (Dr. David R. Reagan) ................. 135
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The True Significance Of The “Throne Of David”(Matt Davies)........................................... 141
5 DANIEL’S 70 WEEKS .................................................................................................... 146
True ................................................................................................................................ 148
Daniel’s Prophecy Of The Seventy Weeks (Wayne Jackson)................................................. 149
Daniel’s 70 Weeks (Bobby Liddell) ........................................................................................ 155
The Seventy Weeks Of Daniel (Ray Paseur) .......................................................................... 158
Error .............................................................................................................................. 165
Daniel’s 70 Weeks Of Years (Dr. David R. Reagan) .............................................................. 166
What Are The Seventy Weeks Of Daniel? (Gotquestions.Org) .............................................. 175
The 70 Weeks Of Daniel (Jack Kelley)................................................................................... 177
6 MATTHEW 24 ................................................................................................................. 183
True ................................................................................................................................ 185
Matthew 24 (Wayne Jackson) ................................................................................................. 186
Matthew 24 (Roy Deaver) ....................................................................................................... 193
Matthew 24: Judgement Upon Jerusalem (Keith Mosher, Sr) ................................................ 202
Error .............................................................................................................................. 212
A Solution To The Problem Of “This Generation” In Matthew 24:34 (Bob Dewaay) ........... 213
Tell Us, When Will These Things Be? (Jw.Org) .................................................................... 224
Matthew 24 (Dr. David R. Reagan) ........................................................................................ 229
7 THE RAPTURE AND TRIBULATION. ....................................................................... 233
True ................................................................................................................................ 236
Last Things: The Rapture; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14 (Earl Edwards)...................................... 237
Premillennialist Doctrine Of “The Rapture” Is False (Robert R. Taylor, Jr.) ......................... 240
The Doctrine Of “The Tribulation” Is False (Cecil N. Wright) .............................................. 244
The Rapture And The Tribulation (Johnny Ramsey) .............................................................. 247
Error .............................................................................................................................. 253
The Rapture (Dr. David R. Reagan) ........................................................................................ 254
The Nature And Purpose Of Tribulation (Dr. David R. Reagan) ............................................ 262
4 Things Every Christian Should Know About The Rapture (Dr. David Jeremiah) ............... 264
8 THE ANTICHRIST ......................................................................................................... 267
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True ................................................................................................................................ 269
The Antichrist (Carroll B. Ellis) .............................................................................................. 270
The Man Of Sin And Antichrist (James M. Draper) ............................................................... 275
Who Is The Antichrist? (Kyle Campbell) ............................................................................... 284
Will There Be An "Antichrist"? (Dave Miller) ....................................................................... 287
Error .............................................................................................................................. 291
What Is The Antichrist? (Gotquestions.Com) ......................................................................... 292
The Antichrist (Barry Gritters) ................................................................................................ 293
Who Is The Antichrist? (Jw.Org) ............................................................................................ 305
9 THE 144,000 ...................................................................................................................... 307
True ................................................................................................................................ 309
The 144,000 (J. Noel Meredith) .............................................................................................. 310
Only 144,000 In Heaven? (Welton Weaver) ........................................................................... 316
The Jehovah's Witnesses, The 144, 000, And The Bible (Jim Lynn) ..................................... 319
Error .............................................................................................................................. 325
Questions From Readers - Watchtower Online Library (Jw.Org) .......................................... 326
The Mysterious 144,000 (Dr. David R. Reagan) .................................................................... 328
The 144,000 (Seventh-Day Adventist Website)...................................................................... 331
10 The Mark Of The Beast ................................................................................................... 334
True ................................................................................................................................ 336
The Mark Of The Beast (Cecil May Jr.) ................................................................................. 337
The Mark Of The Beast And The 144,000 (Donald R. Taylor) .............................................. 341
The Two “Beasts” Of Revelation 13 (Wayne Jackson) .......................................................... 346
Error .............................................................................................................................. 348
What Is The Mark Of The Beast? (Gotquestions.Org) ........................................................... 349
What Does 666 Mean? (Jw.Org) ............................................................................................. 350
The Mark Of The Beast (Seventh-Day Adventist Website) .................................................... 351
11 THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON ............................................................................. 355
True ................................................................................................................................ 357
The Battle Of Armageddon (Cecil May Jr.) ............................................................................ 358
The Battle Of Armageddon (Wayne Jackson) ........................................................................ 363
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The Battle Of Armageddon (David B. Jackson) ..................................................................... 369
Error .............................................................................................................................. 376
The Wars Of The End Of Times (Dr. David R. Reagan) ........................................................ 377
What Is The Battle Of Armageddon? (Jw.Org) ...................................................................... 387
What Is The Battle Of Armageddon? (Gotquestions.Org) ...................................................... 389
12 REVELATION 20 ............................................................................................................ 390
True ................................................................................................................................ 392
Revelation 20: The Millennium (Jack P. Lewis) ..................................................................... 393
Revelation 20 – Analysis And Exegesis (Roy H. Lanier Sr.) ................................................. 399
Revelation 20 And The Millenium (Harold Hazelip).............................................................. 408
Error .............................................................................................................................. 414
The Millennium – A Look At Revelation 20 (Doug Eaton) ................................................... 415
The 1,000 Years Of Revelation 20 (Rev. Angus Stewart) ...................................................... 421
The Millennium Is Now (Cornelis P. Venema) ...................................................................... 433
13 THE CHURCH IN GOD’S ETERNAL PURPOSE ...................................................... 440
True ................................................................................................................................ 442
The Premillennial View Of Christ And His Kingdom (Clyde Woods)................................... 443
The Church In The Eternal Purpose (Avon Malone) .............................................................. 449
The Church Of Christ – Eternally Purposed By Almighty God (Robert Taylor, Jr.) .............. 456
Error .............................................................................................................................. 467
Is The Kingdom The Church? (Mike Oppenheimer) .............................................................. 468
Is The Church The Kingdom? (Dr. David R. Reagan) ............................................................ 470
What Was Pentecost? (Don Samdahl)..................................................................................... 474
14 THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD ...................................................................... 483
True ................................................................................................................................ 485
Premillennialist Doctrine Of “The Resurrection” Is False (Paul Pollard) .............................. 486
The Resurrection: God's Answer To Modernism (Franklin Camp) ........................................ 489
The First Resurrection (Eldred Stevens) ................................................................................. 493
Error .............................................................................................................................. 500
How Many Resurrections Will There Be? (Don Stewart)....................................................... 501
When Will The Resurrection Take Place? (Gotquestions.Org) .............................................. 507
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What Is The Resurrection? (Jw.Org)....................................................................................... 510
15 THE LAST DAYS VS THE LAST DAY ........................................................................ 512
True ................................................................................................................................ 514
The Last Days (Garland Elkins) .............................................................................................. 515
Are We Living In The Last Days? (Stanton See) .................................................................... 520
The Day Of The Lord (Cecil May, Jr.).................................................................................... 522
The Last Days (John T. Smithson) .......................................................................................... 531
Error .............................................................................................................................. 537
The Meaning And Significance Of The Term "The Last Days" (Brian Abshire) ................... 538
The Last Days According To Jesus (R.C. Sproul) .................................................................. 549
Are We Living In The Last Days? Is Bible Prophecy Coming True? (Jw.Org) ..................... 552
16 MAX KING’S “HYPER A.D 70. DOCTRINE” ............................................................ 557
True ................................................................................................................................ 559
An Expose Of The A.D. 70 Doctrine (Charles J. Aebi) .......................................................... 560
Max King-Ism (Flavil H. Nichols) .......................................................................................... 567
The A.D 70 Theory (Gary Workman) ..................................................................................... 573
Error .............................................................................................................................. 583
The A.D 70 Theory Arguments I (Max R. King) .................................................................... 584
The A.D 70 Theory Arguments II (Max R. King) .................................................................. 586
The A.D 70 Theory Arguments III (Max R. King) ................................................................. 589
17 ANGLO-ISRAELISM ...................................................................................................... 590
True ................................................................................................................................ 592
Anglo-Israelism And Dispensationalism (William S. Cline) .................................................. 593
Armstrong's Doctrine Of Anglo Israelism (J. T. Smith) ......................................................... 602
Armstrongism (Alan E. Highers) ............................................................................................ 607
Will There Be A Conversion To Christ Of The Jewish Nation? (Robert R. Taylor, Jr.) ........ 613
Error .............................................................................................................................. 617
British Israelism (Cai.Org) ...................................................................................................... 618
The British-Israel-World Federation (Etherly Bishop Auckland) ........................................... 635
British-Israel Basics(Brithish-Israel.Com) .............................................................................. 637
18 THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH ........................................................ 643
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True ................................................................................................................................ 645
New Heavens And A New Earth (William Woodson) ............................................................ 646
The New Heavens And The New Earth (Charles Coil) .......................................................... 650
The New Heavens And New Earth (Keith A. Mosher, Sr.) .................................................... 654
Error .............................................................................................................................. 660
The New Earth (Dr. David R. Reagan) ................................................................................... 661
What Are The New Heavens And New Earth? (Don Stewart) ............................................... 662
What Are The New Heavens And The New Earth? (Gotquestions.Org) ................................ 666
19 THE MAN OF SIN ........................................................................................................... 667
True ................................................................................................................................ 669
Last Things: “Man Of Lawlessness” 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5 (Earl Edwards).......................... 670
The Man Of Sin And The Antichrist (Goebel Music) ............................................................. 673
The Man Of Sin (Sam Hester)................................................................................................. 681
Error .............................................................................................................................. 687
Who Is The Man Of Lawlessness In 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12? (Gotquestions.Org) ............... 688
The Revelation Of The Man Of Sin (John F. Walvoord) ........................................................ 689
The Man Of Sin (Endtimesprophecy.Org) .............................................................................. 697
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FIVE OT PASSAGES THAT REFUTE PREMILLENNIALISM .............................. 701
21 TOP 10 REASONS TO REJECT PREMILLENNIALISM ......................................... 703
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Class Notes
CLASS NOTES
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PREMILLENNIALISM (Notes)
I. PREMILLENNIALISM.
A. Definition.
1. It all start with Israel.
2. Personal ministry of Jesus.
a. Christ came to establish the kingdom.
b. Christ fails in rejection.
c. Kingdom postponed.
3. Re – Meaning before.
4. Mille meaning One thousand
5. Annus – Meaning years.
6. ISM: meaning it ain’t so (Doctrine).
B. Types of Premillennialism.
1. Dispensational premillennialism.
a. The guys of left behind.
b. Christ failed because was unexpectedly rejected.
c. This is the one that has most defenders.
d. Isaiah 53:3 – “He is despised” – it was prophesied his rejection.
e. 1 Cor 5:1-4 – His death was part of the plan – though they suggest that
was not the plan.
f. They believe that church was not predicted, nor desired, it was plan B –
God did not really want the church – Ephesians 3:9-11 – “From the
beginning of the world,” the church is “manifold wisdom, purposed in
eternity.”
g. The church was not plan B! – The book of Revelation started addressing
the seven churches of Asia, however, they say that was the Church age.
h. They Believed God stopped the prophetic clock, that is why the kingdom
according to them is yet future.
2. Historical -Classic
a. It will be a perfect peaceful reign.
b. There will be two resurrections – separated by the 100 years.
c. The first resurrection – all saints are rewarded – this is referred to as the
rapture.
d. The second resurrection – the wicked are judged.
e. The church was in the plan of God.
f. They believed the church and Israel are separate and distinct from each
other – the “gap” and “postponement” theory.
g. Hold to a strictly literal interpretation of tOT prophecies.
h. Great emphasis on the “RAPTURE” and the “TRIBULATION” which
will last 7 years.
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i. God’s purpose in dealing with Man is to glorify himself (Through nature)
and not to save the man.
3. Post-millennialism:
a. Campbell was a post-millennialist, he believed that the second coming
will not come before the millennial: the golden age of Christianity (Great
expansion and growth of the church), not literal reign on earth.
b. Christ will return after the 1000-year reign of God and His kingdom
(Church).
c. This 1,000-year peaceable reign will then Usher in Christ’s second
coming.
d. Christ died and established the church on purpose.
e. However, there will be a period time of tribulation, then expansion of the
kingdom and then after a millennial the Lord will come back.
4. Amillennialism: Symbolic millennium – we are in that time now.
a. Christ came, died, and established the church.
b. Is there victory taking place? Yes.
c. Are there troubles taking place? Yes.
d. This millennial is not 1,000 years but a long period time
C. The church ages.
1. This age ends with the rapture.
2. Those will be reigning with Christ 7 years (tribulation).
3. During the 7 years, there will be the tribulation of Matthew 24.
4. Three views of the rapture.
a. Pre-trib: before the tribulation, God will rapture his people for 7 years, and
later He will return with his saints and then return for the battle and reign
for a literal thousand years.
b. Mid-trib: 3.5 into the tribulation, God raptures his people from the
tribulation, but they will face 3.5 years of it.
c. Post-trib: they will here for 7 years of tribulation and then the rapture will
come but will be back for the battle of Armageddon and reign with
Christ on this earth for a thousand years.
5. Jehovah witnesses – Revelation 14:3.
a. Late 1808’ – only 144,000 will be saved.
b. By the 1930’s their membership was more than 144,000.
c. They came up with a new revelation.
a. The 144,000 are the heavenly class.
b. The rest are the earthly class who will live on earth.
D. What does dispensational premillennialism teach?
1. The Levitical priesthood will be restored.
2. The blood sacrifices for sin – restored.
3. Circumcision will be restored and Essential for communion with God.
4. Sabbath observance will be restored.
5. The Roman Empire will come back into power.
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6. The new covenant of Jeremiah 31:31 is yet future.
7. Christ’s Lordship is yet future – He is not now ruling.
E. What does the Bible teach about the kingdom?
1. Prophecy, nearness and beginning.
a. Daniel 2:40-44 cf. Mark 1:14-15; Mark 9:1
b. The Day of Pentecost – Acts 1 & 2.
2. The last days: Christianity.
a. Hebrews 1:1-2 – the kingdom – Col 1:13.
b. Church – 1 Tim 3:15; Matt 16:16-19.
3. The End.
a. 1 Corinthians 15:23-26; Matthew 25:31-46.
b. The judgment.
F. Literal interpretation – they sugar stick.
1. Christ literally did fulfill many prophesies.
a. Born of a virgin.
b. Betrayed with 30 pieces of silver.
c. Born in Bethlehem.
d. Worked miracles.
e. He suffered.
2. Has Ezekiel’s temple ever been built? No.
3. Have the Jews been restored (As God’s people) in Palestine? No.
4. Does Ezekiel speak of the Levites being priests again? Yes.
5. Are they now? No.
6. But!!!
a. Daniel 9 speaks of 70 weeks.
b. Mal 4:5 speaks of “Elijah” when John is meant.
c. (John 1:21; Matt 17:9-13).
7. Isaiah 11:6-10 and Romans 15:10-12.
a. Paul applied Isaiah’s prophesy to the Gentiles receiving the mercy of God
“that day”
b. Literal wolves are not lying down with lambs.
c. By the coming of the Messiah this was fulfilled.
d. Isaiah’s prophecy is a figure of coming peace, such was fulfilled in Christ.
8. Ezekiel 16:53-55 and Jude 7.
a. By the time Ezekiel wrote, Sodom was no longer in existence.
b. This is not a reference to Sodom, but a figure of sinful nations.
c. Jude 7 – eternal punishment for Sodom.
d. Therefore, sinful nations are like Sodom.
9. Ezekiel 37:22-25 and Jeremiah 23:5.
a. Ezekiel says that “David” will reign forever, where Jeremiah says that “a
righteous branch” will be raised up from David and will reign forever.
b. This is no literally David but his son, the Messiah, the Christ.
10. Ezekiel 37:25 and 2 Peter 3:10.
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a. Ezekiel requires that Israel spend eternity on this earth which is a problem
since Peter said this earth will be burned up.
b. If you take literally, then Israel will live eternally which is a problem with
2 Peter 3:10, all shall be burned up.
11. Isaiah 34:5-17
a. Verses 9-10 say that Edom will be punished and will burn forever and
ever.
b. Verses 11-15 say that Edom will be possessed by animals and weeds.
12. Isaiah 11:6-8 and Isaiah 35:8-9.
a. Will there be Lions or not?
b. If everything will be wiped out.
G. What is wrong with it?
1. The kingdom is yet future – Christ dethroned.
2. God is not ruling now – God has limited power.
3. All Christians will be raptured – Kingdom prophecies are void.
4. That God still owes Israel something – NT writers were confused.
5. Gross misapplication of Scripture – God is a respecter of persons.
6. Premill. Is material – Christ did not come to die for our sins.
H. Kingdom of God.
1. Jesus said come in “lifetime” of soe those listening to Him!
2. Peter preached that Jesus was both “Lord and Christ” – Acts.
I. Some history.
1. John Nelson Darby (1800).
a. Considered the father of dispensational premillennialism.
b. Born in England.
c. Embraced Christianity as he understood it while studying.
d. He was a deacon in the church in Ireland.
e. He started believing that the kingdom in the book of Isaiah was different
than the church.
f. Later, he left the church of Ireland.
g. He saw the invention of the telegraph as a sign that then end of the world
was approaching: he called the telegraph an invention of Cain and a
harbinger for the Armageddon.
h. Darby is credited with originating the “secret rapture” theory where in
Christ will suddenly remove his bride, the church from the world.
i. Charles Spurgeon contemporary of Darby, disagreed with him.
2. Cyrus I Scofield (1843-1921).
a. An American theologian minister and author of reference Bible.
b. He was a Presbyterian.
c. He was highly influenced by the father of American dispensionalism,
James H Brookes.
d. He sees a distinction between the promises of the Old Testament and the
church of the New Testament.
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3. James H Brookes (1830-1897).
a. Pastor and teacher.
b. One of his students was C.I Scofield.
4. Lewis Sperry Chafer (1871– 1952).
a. American theologian.
b. He was influenced b y C.I Scofield.
c. He is considered the first president of the Dallas Theology Seminar.
d. Among his students.
a. Keneth Taylor author of the Living Bible Translation.
b. McGee.
c. Ryrie – also author of the reference Ryrie Bible.
e. He has similarities with John Darby’s doctrine.
5. Charles Caldwell Ryrie.
a. He is the editor of the Ryrie study Bible.
b. More than 2 million copies were sold.
c. He is a notable advocate of premillennial dispensationalism.
J. The Rapture.
1. 1 Corinthians 15:23, 24; John 5:28-29.
2. The problem for them is that after that the end will come.
3. It does not say anything about what they teach: rapture, tribulation,
Armageddon, etc.
4. John says all shall come fourth, the evil and the righteous.
5. Matthew 24:37.
6. They claim many resurrection, but Jesus talks about only one and such will
take place in the last day – John 6:39, 44, 54, such a one will have two classes,
the righteous and the wicked – John 5:28-29.
II. Daniel 9.
A. Seventy sevens (9:24) – the 490 years.
B. For the people and the holy city.
1. Finish of transgressions – Jews and Jerusalem.
2. End of Sins – End the exile.
3. Make reconciliation for iniquity
4. Bring everlasting righteousness – The Gospel.
5. Seal up vision and prophesy – end of revelation.
6. Anoint the Most Holy.
C. Time Lapse (9:25).
1. From the going fourth of the commandment.
2. Till the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
3. Ezra 1.1; Isaiah 44: 28 – the decree of Cyrus 538.
a. Build a house.
b. Thou shalt be build.
c. Daniel says to build Jerusalem.
d. This is where it starts.
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4. 457-458 – Command to rebuild (Ezra 6).
5. 444 B.C Nehemiah rebuilds the walls.
6. Strict chronology view - 460 B.C -30 A.D = 490 years, there are 40 years
missing.
III. NEAL – WALLACE DISCUSSION.
A. Wallace:
1. Where does it say the second coming in Revelation 20?
2. Where we are mentioned? It says “they”
3. This is figurative, just as Jesus talked to Nicodemus (John 3).
4. The premillennialists expect a literal fulfillment.
5. Then, Isaiah 40 says that John the Baptist was a road builder.
6. Figurative and symbolic language is found in abundance in the Scriptures.
7. Paul said to the elder “take heed” that wolves enter not in among them (Acts
20:28, 29) – are these wolves literal? No, they are not.
B. Neal.
1. Syllogism.
a. Christ raised acts 2, 32-35.
b. He sat and he will sit the ls Hebrews 1:13;
IV. CHRISTIAN CONTEND FOR THY CAUSE.
A. 48 pages – introduction.
B. Page 43 and on
V. Apocalyptical literature.
A. Guidelines.
1. Do not insert your own ideas into the Scriptures.
a. Hear the Lord.
b. How was used the AL in the OT?
c. The old testament in the book of Revelation - Farrell Jenkins.
2. Identify what is symbolical – notice the difference to that which is literal.
a. If is held that is objective then it is necessary to get biblical support.
b. An interpretation must not be forced.
3. Understand the nature of AL its origin and its purpose.
4. Study how the author himself applies the language and the sign.
a. When John applied those, who were dead to Christ; that His meaning.
b. When Daniel interpreted the Ram as Medo-Persian and the He-goat as the
Grecians, that is its meaning, nothing else!
5. Investigate how the symbols are used in other apocalyptical writings.
a. We have similar language describing something in the same nature, only a
different event.
b. The A.D 70 theory uses only “judgement language” and put all that
together, but there are different specific judgments.
6. There is one meaning.
a. Like the parables, those cannot be forced.
b. They have at least two major points.
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c. Details sometimes are not necessary with a specific interpretation.
B. Rules of interpretation of apocalyptical literature.
1. Determine the historical background – the settings of the prophet and the
audience.
2. Determine the full meaning and significance of names, locations,
geographical, references of costume, culture, even flora and fauna.
3. Learn didactic.
4. If predictive, determine if is fulfilled, future fulfilled, and why?
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Rules from Interpreting Prophecy.
RULES FROM
INTERPRETING
PROPHECY
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined
1. Premillennialism teaches that the prophetic Scriptures have been fulfilled historically
in a literal way.
2. Therefore, they conclude that unfulfilled prophecies will have the same literal
fulfillment, especially when they are couched in terms that make sense literally.
3. For example: The Old Testament abounds with prophetic details about Jesus as
prophet, priest, and king (Deut 18:15-18; 1 Sam 2:35: Ps 110:4: cf. Gen 49:10; 2 Sam
7:12-16; Zech 6:13; Heb 5:6). Isaiah 9:6-7 summarizes His birth, person, and deity.
All these prophecies have been literally fulfilled.
Doctrine Defeated
1. One must accept figurative language of prophecy as well as literal language.
2. Hebrews 1:1 states that the prophets spoke “in divers manners,” that is, in different
forms.
3. The prophets used figurative and symbolic language as well as literal and historical
language (Haggai 2:6-7 compare Hebrews 12:26-27).
4. If all prophecy were interpreted literally, then Isaiah’s prophecy would make John
the Baptist a builder of roads (Isa. 40:3-5; Matt. 3:3; John 1:23).
5. What about Old Testament prophecies? If literally, then, there must not be
contradictions:
a. Isaiah foresaw lions in the Messianic kingdom (Isa. 11:6-8).
b. Interpreted literally this contradicts Isaiah 35:8-9 which affirms there shall
be no lions there.
6. The literally approach of premillennialism demands the reinstitution of the law with
its priesthood and animal blood which cannot take away sins; and, thus, stands
opposed to the redemption of all mankind in the future.
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True
TRUE
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INTERPRETING APOCALYPTICAL LITERATURE
(Clyde M. Miller)
The definition of apocalyptic literature seems strange from the standpoint of

etymology. The adjective “apocalyptic” derives from the Greek noun apocalupsis which
basically means “revelation.” But the adjective phrase, “apocalyptic literature,” takes on a
different and strange definition. The best definition which I can give, is that it is prophetic
literature couched in highly symbolic language. But the fact that it is so couched in
symbolism means that what it intends to reveal is sometimes obscure. Special study is
required in order to grasp the basic features of this literature in the Bible.
There can be a vast difference between non-canonical and canonical apocalypses. In

these lectures, we are interested primarily in the canonical apocalypses and only secondarily
in non-canonical as they may contribute something to our understanding of the Scriptures.
We need to understand that symbols have both a literal and figurative meaning. Mrs. Mary
Collins, one of our retired English teachers at Lipscomb, illustrated it for me this way. One
might say, “I have a little white dog.” In that case, everyone would take the language literally.
But one might say to a friend, “Oh, you old dog,” in which case we would understand the
language figuratively. Again, someone might say, “It is hard to teach old dogs new tricks,”
in which case the language is symbolic. It is literally hard to teach old dogs new tricks. That
is why they are trained while puppies. It is also hard to teach older people new things. So,
our last illustration is both literal and figurative at one and the same time. In symbolic
language in the Bible there is always something that is literal, but it is couched in highly
figurative language.
Because of time limitations we have reduced the characteristics of canonical
apocalypses to seven. To preserve time, we will look at the first two together because the
Scripture which we will use, contains both characteristics.
IDEALISTIC AND COSMOLOGICAL SYMBOLISM
The first characteristic is idealistic symbolism. By that, we mean that scenes are
portrayed which are larger than life. Hyperbolic language, personification, and sometimes
rather crude symbols are used to portray the terrible evil forces that exist in the world and the
drastic divine intervention required in order to bring about the extension of the divine
purpose. The second characteristic is cosmological symbolism. By that we mean that scenes
which actually portray the fortunes of Israel or of the church are presented as if they involve
worldwide cataclysms. There will be something in the immediate or general context to alert
the reader to the reality which is being symbolically portrayed. Now let us illustrate these
two characteristics.
Isaiah chapters 24-27 appear on the surface to set forth a picture of death and
resurrection. Close study, however, reveals that the language is symbolic. For instance, 26:14
says of Israel’s enemies, “They are now dead, they live no more; those departed spirits do
not rise.” [All scripture references are from the New International Version unless otherwise
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noted.] Yet, of Israel, 26:19 says, “But your dead will live; their bodies will rise. You, who
dwell in the dust, wake up and shout for joy. Your dew is like the dew of the morning; the
earth will give birth to her dead.” If this is a portrayal of bodily resurrection at the end time,
it teaches that not all will rise, and one might imply that only Israel will be raised up. But that
conclusion runs counter to many New Testament references. Hence, we are alerted to the fact
that symbolic language is being employed.
Idealistic language is employed which sets forth larger-than-life scenes. Idealistic
language takes the form of a cosmological portrayal which on the surface appears to be a
picture of world-wide conflagration, but which can be seen to refer only to Israel’s
devastation at the time of the exile and God’s intervention which would return them to their
home land. The section begins by declaring, “The Lord is going to lay waste the earth and
devastate it” (24:1), again, “The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered”
(24:3), and again, “The earth dries up and withers, the world languishes and withers” (24:4),
etc. Yet there are within this section clues that this is idealistic and cosmological symbolism
pertaining to Judah.
As he looks to the day of restoration, Isaiah says, “The moon will be abashed, the sun
ashamed; for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem” (24:23). Again,
“On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich food for all peoples” (25:7),
obviously referring to Mount Zion or Jerusalem. Still again, “In that day this song will be
sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; God makes salvation its walls and ramparts.
Open the gates that the righteous nation may enter, the nation that keeps faith” (26:1-2).
Again, 26:15 explains the meaning of the passage that says that the dead of Israel’s enemies
will not rise, in these words, “You have enlarged the nation. You have gained glory for
yourself; you have extended all the borders of the land.” Hence, he speaks of a figurative
resurrection.
The end of this section, Isaiah chapters 24-27, makes clear what the prophet has been
talking about all along. Isaiah 27:8-13 makes clear that the whole section is a symbolic
portrayal of Judah’s exile and later return to the homeland. Verse 8 reads, “By warfare and
exile you contend with her—with his fierce blast he drives her out, as on a day the east wind
blows.” And verses 12-13 read,
In that day the Lord will thresh from the flowing Euphrates to the Wadi of Egypt, and
you, O Israelites will be gathered one by one. And in that day a great trumpet will
sound. Those who were perishing in Assyria and those who were exiled in Egypt will
come and worship the Lord on the holy mountain in Jerusalem.
Many other examples of idealistic and cosmological symbolism could be given, but
time limitations forbid that procedure. These two features are just as certainly employed in
the New Testament book of Revelation and many other passages.
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NUMERICAL SYMBOLISM
Now we move on to the third characteristic of apocalyptic literature which is
numerical symbolism. This feature is so varied and vast that it is difficult to cover it
adequately in a single lecture. All we can do is summarize the main features of this
characteristic. In summary, it is safe to say that the numerals three, four, six, seven, ten, and
twelve are all used symbolically in the book of Revelation to indicate completeness or
perfection. Fractions and parts of symbols of completeness were used to indicate
incompleteness.
In order for the symbolic use of numbers to be corroborated, two qualifications must
be considered. Any outside sources used as support must be at least as ancient as the biblical
text under consideration. Second, internal biblical evidence should support the external
evidence.
One of the best sources for the use of symbolic numerology is to be found in Philo, a
Jewish philosopher who lived approximately between 20 B.C. and A.D. 40. It seems evident
that Philo depended heavily on the systematized treatment of symbolic numerology which
had been developed by Pythagoras, a Greek philosopher and mathematician who lived about
580-500 B.C. It seems evident that the Egyptians and Babylonians, and less evidently the
Sumerians, used symbolic numbers as well, although scholars differ considerably on this
matter. Let it be understood that we do not subscribe to most of what Philo says about
symbolic and mystical numbers. We are only interested in those which have a mathematical
basis. Our primary purpose is to establish the fact that certain numbers were considered as
symbols of completion or perfection.
In his tractate, On the Account of the World’s Creation Given by Moses, Philo’s main
purpose is to demonstrate that God, not chance, is the primary cause of the world’s existence.
In so doing, he employs certain numbers which he regards as symbols of completeness or
perfection. The citations employed here are from those used in the Loeb Classical Library
series.
Philo sees the number 1 as signifying uniqueness. Alluding to the record of Day 1 in
Genesis 1, he remarks, “As a necessary consequence a measure of time was forthwith brought
about which its Maker called Day, and not ‘first’ day but ‘one’, an expression due to the
uniqueness of the intelligible world, and to its having therefore a natural kinship to the
number “One” (IX.35). At the conclusion to his tractate on the creation, Philo remarks that
the world came into being and it is not eternal as some were supposing. In this connection,
he says, “God is one…. The world too is one as well as its Maker, who made his work like
himself in its uniqueness” (LXI.171).
Philo comments on the number 3 in these words: “The creator proceeded to make the
heaven which with strict truth he entitled firmament, as being corporeal; for the body is
naturally solid, seeing that it has a threefold dimension” (X.36). We do not recognize the
number 1 being used symbolically in the canonical apocalypses, but the number 3 is, as we
shall presently see. We see no credence for the common concept that the Bible uses the
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number 3 to symbolize the triune godhead. That concept apparently comes in during the
Middle Ages.
Philo elaborates on the number 4 in these words:
But the heaven was afterward duly decked in a perfect number, namely four. This
number it would be no error to call the base and source of 10, the complete number;
for what 10 is actually, this, as is evident, 4 is potentially; that is to say that, if the
numbers from 1 to 4 be added together, they will produce 10, and this is the limit set
to the otherwise unlimited succession of numbers; round this as a turning point they
wheel and retrace their steps (XV.47).
Philo also indicates here that he regards the number 10 as a complete number. His
final statement quoted refers to the fact that Hebrew and Greek alphabetic numbers started
with 1 and went through 10 rather than starting with zero and going through 9. The first ten
letters of the alphabet thus stood for the numerals 1-10. Then intervals of ten were employed
until one reached 100, after which the succeeding letters had intervals of 100. Visual charts
indicating Hebrew and Greek alphabetic numerals are given by John J. Davis, Biblical
Numerology, 1968, pages 39 and 43. It should be noted that the antiquated twenty-seven
character Greek alphabet was employed in alphabetic numbers.
Of the number 4, Philo further states,
In addition to these points we must remember also that first among number 4 is a
square, made up of equal factors multiplying into one other, a measure of rightness
and equality, and that alone among them it is such as to be produced from the same
factors whether added or multiplied together, by addition out of 2 and 2, and by
multiplication again out of twice 2…. Suffice it to add just this, that 4 was made the
starting-point of the creation of heaven and the world; for the four elements, out of
which the universe was fashioned, issued, as it were from a fountain, from the numeral
4; and beside this, so also did the four seasons of the year… having a fourfold division
into winter and spring and summer and autumn (XVI.52; cf. LI.147).
Obviously, we are not giving credence to the idea that only four elements make up
the universe, but that was the common thinking in Philo’s day. Since the Bible speaks of the
four winds and four “corners” of the world to indicate completion, the number 4 can be
considered to stand for the world or a world power.
In regard to the number 6, Philo mentions that Moses says that in six days the world
was created. Philo’s comment is that
…six days are mentioned because for the things coming into existence there was need
of order. Order involves number, and among numbers by the laws of nature the most
suitable to productivity is 6, for if we start with 1 it is the first perfect number, being
equal to the product of its factors (i.e., 1 X 2 X 3), as well as made up of the sum of
them (i.e., 1 + 2 + 3) … For it was requisite that the world, being most perfect of all
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things that have come into existence, should be constituted in accordance with a
perfect number, namely six (III.13- 14).
Since the number 6 stands for productivity, it easily becomes a symbol of man, or of
complete human efforts (cf. Rev. 13:18).
On the number 7 Philo has thirteen or fourteen pages of material. Yet at the beginning
he apologizes for his inability to exhaust the subject! He says,
I doubt whether anyone could adequately celebrate the properties of the number 7,
for they are beyond all words. Yet the fact that it is more wondrous than all that is
said about it is no reason for maintaining silence regarding it. Nay, we must make a
brave attempt to bring out at least all that is within the compass of our understandings
(XXX.89).
In the beginning of this citation he says,
Now when the whole world had been brought to completion in accordance with the
properties of six, a perfect number, the Father invested with dignity the seventh day
which comes next, extolling it and pronouncing it holy; for it is the festival, not of a
single city or country, but of the universe, and it alone strictly deserves to be called
‘public’ as belonging to all people and the birthday of the world.
It is only possible for us to pick a few examples of his dissertation, and especially
those of mathematical value. Philo divides these considerations into two categories–those
mathematical properties inside the number 10 and those outside.
On those outside the number 10, he remarks that by doubling the numerals involved,
starting with 1, we get both a square and a cube. And by trebling those numerals, we also get
both a square and a cube. In this regard, he illustrates thus:
The plainest evidence of this are the numbers already mentioned: for instance, the 7th
from 1 reached by going on doubling, i.e. 64, is a square, being 8 times 8, and a cube,
being 4 times 4, again multiplied by 4: and again the 7th from 1 reached by
progressive trebling, 729, is a square, being the product of 27 multiplied by itself, and
the cube of 9, i.e. 9 times 9, again multiplied by 9 (XXX.92,93).
On the number 7 within the decade, among other things, Philo employs the concept
of numbers which beget other numbers within the decade or are begotten by other numbers
within the decade. He thus comments,
So, august is the dignity inherent by nature in the number 7, that it has a unique
relation distinguishing it from all the other numbers within the decade: for of these
some beget without being begotten, some are begotten but do not beget, some do both
of these, both beget and are begotten; 7 alone is found in no such category. We must
establish this assertion by giving proof of it. Well then, 1 begets all the subsequent
numbers while it is begotten by none whatever; 8 is begotten by twice 4, but begets
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no number within the decade; 4 again holds the place of both, both of parents and
offspring; for it begets 8 by being doubled, and is begotten by twice 2. It is the nature
of 7 alone, as I have said, neither to beget nor to be begotten (XXXIII.99,100).
Let us summarize what Philo says in XXXVI.106 in this way. He points out that the
number 7 consists of 3 and 4, and “thus the seventh number does indeed bring with it
perfection.” Philo sees evidence of this by virtue of the fact that each of the equinoxes occurs
in a seventh month of the Jewish civil and religious calendars (XXXIX.116).
In an incidental way, in his delineations of the value of the number 7, Philo mentions
the number 12 as involved in harmonic progressions. He says, “12 stands to six in the
proportion 2:1 which regulates the octave” (XXXVII.107). This passage is as close as Philo
comes to dealing with the number 12. It can be surmised, however, that since he considers
the number 6 a perfect number, he would also so consider the number 12 which is twice 6.
Two important conclusions can be drawn from Philo’s treatment of symbolic
numbers. First, he considers 3, 4, 6, 10, and 12 as symbolizing completeness or perfection.
Second, the square and cube are also so considered since they present symmetrical geometric
figures.
That the New Testament book of Revelation places such emphasis on these numerals
and geometric figures is evident. The number 3 is used nine times; the number 4, nineteen
times; the number 6, two times; the number 7, fifty-four times; the number 10, seven times;
multiples of the number 10, twenty-five times; the number 12, nine times; and multiples of
the number 12, twenty four times; for a total of 149 instances in a twenty-two chapter book.
Both the square and cube are involved in the portrayal of heaven, and the square is also very
important in Ezekiel’s symbolic portrayal of the new temple and courts involved in Israel’s
postexilic existence in Palestine (Ezek. Chs. 43-46).
More than this, the seven seals in Revelation are divided into 4 and 3 and also into 6
and 1, with changes of symbolism and an interlude to indicate as much. The seven trumpets
are also divided into 4 and 3, with an interlude between the sixth and seventh. And the seven
bowls of wrath are also divided into 4 and 3. Hence, the best known of all the canonical
apocalypses is chock full of numerical symbolism.
The recognition of these three characteristics of apocalyptic literature, as well as the
four yet to be discussed, will first prevent our causing the Scriptures to contradict themselves
with our over literalistic interpretations. Second, it will allow us to make spiritual sense out
of otherwise obscure Scriptures. Third, it will help prevent our building false hopes in the
minds of people about divine plans for our future.
SYMBOLISM OF COLORS AND ANIMALS
It is doubtful if colors, in and of themselves, are used symbolically in the Bible, unless
“white” is an exception. Colors take on symbolic significance in conjunction with objects
with which they are connected. While non-canonical apocalypses frequently employ
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symbolic colors, this feature is used sparingly in the Bible. We will give one example from
the Old Testament and one from the New Testament to show some variety of symbolic colors.
In Zechariah 6:1-8, we read:
I looked up again—and there before me were four chariots coming out from between
two mountains—mountains of bronze! The first chariot had red horses, the second
black, the third white, and the fourth dappled—all of them powerful. I asked the angel
who was speaking to me, ‘What are these, my lord?’ The angel answered me, ‘These
are the four spirits of heaven, going out from standing in the presence of the Lord of
the whole world. The one with the black horses is going toward the north country, the
one with the white horses toward the west, and the one with the dappled horses toward
the south.” When the powerful horses went out, they were straining to go throughout
the earth. And he said, ‘Go throughout the earth!’ So they went throughout the earth.
Then he called to me, ‘Look, those going toward the north country have given my
Spirit rest in the land of the north.
It seems clear that these chariots were being sent out to patrol the earth (NRSV) to
see how the nations, the enemies of God’s covenant people, were doing. We have here
pictured for us chariots with red, black, white, and dappled or speckled horses. It is uncertain
what the word describing the fourth horse means. The only purpose of the colors of these
horses seems to be that of distinguishing the directions in which they were sent. No particular
significance to each color or its meaning is given.
Perhaps we are all familiar with a similar portrayal of four horses, each one a different
color, in Revelation 6:1-8. There we notice that the colors of the horses are white, red, black,
and perhaps a pale color, possibly the color of a corpse. It is interesting that the fourth color
here, as in Zechariah, is ambiguous. Jesus the Lamb is calling these horses and their riders
onto the stage to play their part in the unfolding drama. Coupled with the stated purpose of
each rider and his horse, the white horse symbolizes a conquering force, the red symbolizes
warfare, the black symbolizes famine, and the pale symbolizes death. The fact that armies
often paraded after winning a victory, with their general or monarch riding on a white horse
at the head of the parade, makes the white horse an appropriate symbol of conquest and
victory. Since red is the color of oxygenated blood, the red horse is an appropriate symbol of
the bloodshed that follows in the wake of war. It may surprise us that black is here said to
stand for famine instead of death, but famine carries with it the omen of possible death, so
the symbolism is still appropriate. The pale horse is a fit symbol of a corpse resulting from
death, so it, too, is an appropriate color.
We deem it well to look further at the way the book of Revelation employs the
symbolic color white. The word “white” is used seventeen times in fifteen verses. In 1:14, it
describes Christ’s hair as being white, perhaps a throwback to Daniel 7:9 which portrays
God, the Ancient of Days, as white-haired, perhaps symbolizing his eternal glory. In
Revelation, Christ’s authority attending his eternal glory is probably symbolized, since a
comparison of Revelation 1:8 and 1:17 shows that Christ is acclaimed as the eternal one,
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along with God. The glory of God’s throne of judgment is symbolized in 20:11. Thus far, the
color white seems to portray the glory of God and of Christ.
White also symbolizes victory. In 14:14, Christ is pictured as seated on a white cloud,
with a golden crown (stephanos, the crown of victory) on his head, and a sharp sickle in his
hand. In 19:11, Christ is portrayed as seated on a white horse, judging and making war against
the wicked. This time he has on his head “many diadems,” the crowns symbolizing royal
authority. In 19:14, the armies of heaven are pictured as following him on white horses,
wearing fine linen, white and clean. It can be seen here that white can stand for purity and
victory at the same time. In 4:4 we see the twenty-four elders seated on thrones, dressed in
white robes, with golden crowns (stephanous) on their heads.
So, white sometimes symbolizes victory for the saints as well. In 6:11, the martyrs
are seen, each one being given a white robe and the promise that their blood would be
avenged when the full number of the martyrs had been completed. In 7:9, we see people
standing before God’s throne, robed in white, with palm branches, symbols of victory, in
their hands. In 7:13, one of the elders asks John who these people are. In 7:14, John
acknowledges that he does not know, so the elder explains, “These are they who have come
out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb.” Hence, the victory of salvation is here portrayed. So, in 2:17, Jesus likewise
promises to give a white stone “to him who overcomes.” In 3:5, again the one who overcomes
is promised that he will be dressed in white. And, finally, in 6:2, the rider on the white horse
“went out as a conqueror bent on conquest.”
White can also stand for the purity of the saints. We have already looked at 19:14 in
which the armies of heaven are said to be clothed in clean white garments. In addition, 3:4
says that there were some in Sardis who had not soiled their clothes, so they will be “dressed
in white, for they are worthy.” Finally, in 3:18, the saints at Laodicea are counseled to buy
from Christ white clothes to wear, so that they could cover their shameful spiritual nakedness.
White, therefore, in its varied applications, symbolizes glory, victory, and purity. In
some passages, one feature will be emphasized, in others, another. We must not force the
color white to always mean the same thing. Each passage must be studied in light of its own
context.
SYMBOLIC ACTS
Numerous symbolic acts are recorded in the Bible, and not always in apocalyptic
passages. Numerous acts are also recorded in apocalyptic passages, only a few of which we
will be able to examine. The similarity of symbolical acts in Ezekiel and Revelation should
not escape our attention. Especially is this true in regard to God’s symbolic measuring of the
worship of his covenant people.
In Ezekiel chapters 37-39 we are presented with visions of the resurrection of the
nation of Judah and some difficulties encountered after they returned home, as they
encountered the mystical Gog of the land of Magog. In 37:11-12 God promises to resurrect
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the nation, that is, bring them back to the land of Israel, and in verse 14 he promises to place
them on their own soil. In chapters 38-39 we are given to understand that the mysterious Gog
will come against Israel after they have been restored from war and gathered from many
nations to the mountains of Israel (38:8). Verse 11 declares that the scourge will come when
they are dwelling quietly but in unwalled, therefore, unfortified, villages. In 39:25-27, God
promises to restore the people so that they will forget their shame when they have been
brought back from their enemies’ lands. In symbolic language, chapters 40-42 present the
reader with a portrayal of a restored temple, and chapters 47-48 present a picture of the
restored land with Israel reinstated on their inheritance. Sandwiched in between these last
two elements, chapters 43-46 provide symbolic regulations for new temple worship.
The dimensions of that temple and the physical regulations for worship do not always
square with the law of Moses because Ezekiel gives a symbolic portrayal. But the key to all
this symbolism pertaining to buildings and regulations is that God is symbolically portraying
the purity of worship demanded of his people. In 44:1-8, the closed door or gate is symbolic
of the fact that God’s presence is closed to those who practice abominations. In 44:9-14, we
learn that neither foreigners nor corrupt Levites will be allowed to perform functions inside
the sanctuary. In 44:15-27, it is insisted that only the Zadokite priests will be allowed to
minister in the sanctuary because they formerly kept God’s charge for the sanctuary when
Israel went astray. In 45:9-12 ethical justice and righteousness are enjoined upon those who
would worship acceptably. Literal language is, therefore, interspersed within the symbolic
language to alert the reader to the general meaning of the symbolic acts said to be performed.
In a briefer sense, Revelation 11:1-3 does much the same thing. John, in his vision on
Patmos, is told to measure the temple, altar, and those who worship there. He is told not to
measure the court outside this symbolic temple, for it is given over to the nations who will
symbolically trample over the holy city. The worthy saints are persecuted and many are killed
(7-10), but afterward they are symbolically resurrected like those in Ezekiel 37, and this very
much to the consternation of their enemies (11-13). Rather than getting bogged down in an
effort to understand all the symbolism, how much better is it to recognize what the central
thrust of such symbolic acts is. And here, as in Ezekiel, it is that God promises victory to his
faithful worshipers. But we must go on to other considerations.
SYMBOLIC NAMES
Many of these are given in the Prophets, but we can only examine one. Let it be
understood that some of these names, like Gog, may well refer to fictional characters, while
others obviously refer to historical characters.
One of the most famous of these names is “Emmanuel” which means “God With Us.”
Isaiah 7 provides us with a short-term prophecy which has long term antitypical significance
which reaches far beyond the significance of the immediate context. The setting is that Israel
and Syria, that is, the kingdom of Damascus, have formed an alliance against Assyria. They
tried to cause Judah to join them, but Judah refused. Rather, Judah asked for and received
assistance from Assyria. When King Ahaz of Judah heard that the Israel-Syria coalition had
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been formed, he and his people were so afraid that they shook like the trees of the forest
before the wind. In an effort to get Ahaz to trust in him instead of Assyria, God gave him a
sign. He promised the birth of a child who would be named, “Emmanuel” (7:14). The
significance is then given, that is, that before this child was old enough to distinguish the
good from the bad, the two kings of which Ahaz is terrified will have been destroyed (7:10-
17).
The sequel to this is found in Isaiah 8:5-10. Because Ahaz refused to trust God, God
threatened him with destruction at the hands of Assyria, the very power in which he had
placed his trust. He told Ahaz that Assyria would become to him as a flood which would
symbolically reach up to his neck but not go over his head. In this connection, the name
Emmanuel again comes to the front (8:8). But God promises to defeat Assyria’s boasting, so
he invites them to vent their anger, but he says, it will not stand, “for God is with us,” thus
employing the meaning of the symbolic name (8:10).
While we can see that the name Emmanuel carried a great deal of weight in its typical
sense in Old Testament days, it carries even greater weight for us in New Testament days.
Joseph was told to name the child to be born to Mary, “Jesus” (Savior), for he would save
his people from their sins (Mt. 1:21). We know full well that “Jesus” was the personal name
given to our Savior. But Isaiah 7:14 is also quoted and applied to Jesus in Matthew 1:23.
Thus the symbolical name “Emmanuel” was applied to Jesus. He is truly “God With Us,” for
he was deity even while he lived in the flesh. But the rest of the New Testament reveals that
he was never literally called “Emmanuel” in his ministry or after. But the name was symbolic
of a great and wonderful truth which reaches far beyond its Old Testament significance. This
is all the time we can spare for this pursuit.
APOCALYPTIC REPETITION
Surely every student of the Prophets must be aware of the fact that much the same
lessons and sometimes much the same symbolism is repeated in their preaching for emphasis.
The same kind of situation holds forth in the book of Revelation. Chapters 13-17 make clear
that the Roman Empire is symbolically portrayed as the great persecutor of the church. And
the recognition of this fact helps to clarify the overall meaning of the seven seals, trumpets,
and bowls of wrath. The same general historical situation is being retold in part, with some
advancements being made in each section. To understand this is to recognize that we are not
being presented with unfolding successive situations in the church from Pentecost until the
end of time. Rather, we are being presented with one period of great suffering which
pertained to emperor worship demanded by the emperor Domitian and some of his
successors.
The same repetitive nature of apocalyptic literature can be seen in the book of Daniel.
The same four world powers predicted are set forth in chapters 2 and 7, but with different
symbolism. Two of those four empires are set forth in chapter 8, again with still different
symbolism. Then, in chapter 11 a series of symbols portray the scourge of the Seleucid and
Antiochian rulers who tried but failed to stamp out the Jewish religion. This led to the
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outbreak of the Maccabean revolt in 167 B.C. and the rededication of the temple in 164 B.C.
after the death of their great enemy, Antiochus Epiphanes. The similarity between Daniel’s
visions here and the history recorded in 1 Maccabees is truly remarkable.
SUMMARY
Now, let us summarize what we have tried to accomplish. We have not proposed to
study with you all the features of apocalyptic literature, for that would be impossible in the
time allotted to us. We have tried to pick out the seven characteristics which we consider
most definable and defensible. Furthermore, we do not claim to have exhausted the seven
characteristics which we have studied. We have been fully conscious that this would not be
accomplished. What we have tried to do is to explain the characteristics and provide examples
from the Bible. Our hope has been that an understanding of these features will help us to
understand and interpret this literature properly, and sometimes cautiously.
But now let us review what we have attempted to do. We first looked at idealistic and
cosmological symbolism together. The point of that part of our study was to keep us from
interpreting historical prophecies as referring to the return of Christ. Larger-than-life pictures
are being painted of heart-rending problems which would occur within the history of Israel
or the church. Idealistic language is employed in order to portray the magnitude of the
problem and then to magnify the power and grace of God as he provided leadership for
Israel’s restoration or for the church’s survival. When we recognize these facts, we will be
able to use the canonical apocalypses for our encouragement and faith, as we do the rest of
the scriptures.
Next, we examined numerical symbolism. We tried to be cautious by restricting our
study to those numerical symbols which are identifiable and which, with study, yield their
meaning. We pointed out that most of the numerical symbols in the book of Revelation
symbolize completeness or perfection of that which is under consideration. This
understanding allows us to grasp the truth that Satan uses his full powers to try to defeat the
people of God. But God also exerts his full power to overcome the forces of evil. This lets us
know that since he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world (1 Jn. 4:4), we can with
confident trust be assured that we shall overcome all the wiles of the devil.
In our study of symbolical colors and acts, we have attempted to reveal the truth that
God uses the beautiful and the ugly to portray the sharp contrast between the power of light
and the powers of darkness. This encourages us to walk in the light and not let the darkness
overcome us. Symbolic acts magnify the action of the forces of evil and good so that we can
be fortified against the one by embracing the other.
The emphasis on symbolic repetition was calculated to let us know that God’s view
of history is that of recurrent cycles rather than that of linear acts and circumstances never to
be repeated. This consideration allows us to know that we are not the first to be tried for our
faith. It also allows us to understand that just as God’s people survived Satan’s greatest efforts
at their destruction, so we can survive as well.
28
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “At His Coming” - 1998, Clyde M, Miller:
Interpreting Apocalyptic Literature. Pages 254-257. Pages 289-301.
29
THE INTERPRETATION OF PROPHECY
(Edward C. Wharton)
Recent emphasis on premillennialism with its doctrine effecting the church and God’s
scheme of redemption has necessitated a close look at what constitutes an accurate
interpretation of prophecy.
Premillennial Interpretation of Prophecy
(1) The thousand years reign. Old Testament prophets foretold the establishment of
the kingdom of God. But when Christ came he was rejected by the Jews. He therefore
postponed the kingdom and established the church instead. Now we are in the church age. At
the end of the church age Jesus will return to fulfill the prophecies by establishing the
kingdom and reigning on earth for a literal one thousand years.
(2) Literal interpretation. Millenarians have arrived at this doctrine through their basic
premise: the literal interpretation of Scripture. Says John Walvoord,1 the leading exponent
of premillennialism in this generation,
The premillennial system of interpretation of Scripture interprets prophecy in the

same way as other Scripture… premillennial interpretation finds no need for
spiritualizing prophecy any more than any other portion of Scripture. It is this literal
interpretation of Scripture which is the crux of the whole argument between the
amillenarian who denies a future millennial reign of Christ and the premillenarian
who affirms it.2 (Premillennialists) insist that one general rule of interpretation should
be applied to all areas of theology and that prophecy does not require spiritualization
any more than other aspects of truth. They hold that this rule is the literal, grammatical
historical method.
(3) Doctrines resulting from premillennialism. This unyielding literalizing accounts

for the following premillennial doctrines:
(a) A distinction between the church age and the kingdom age.
(b) The gospel age was not foreseen by the Old Testament prophets.
(c) A future restoration of Israel to the promised land for ever.
(d) The re-institution of the law with its priesthood and animal sacrifices.
Premillennialism is not merely the literal interpretation of the millennium of

Revelation twenty. Walvoord seems to be right that, “There is a growing consciousness...
that premillennialism is more than a dispute on the twentieth chapter of Revelation and that
instead it involves a system of interpretation of the entire Scripture from Genesis to
Revelation.”4
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Therefore, in this chapter we will establish three indispensable guidelines essential to
an accurate interpretation of prophecy, and an expose of the fallacies of the premillennial
interpretation.
I. ESSENTIAL GUIDELINES FOR INTERPRETING PROPHECY
(1) Must accept figurative language of prophecy as well as literal language.
Hebrews 1:1 states that the prophets spoke “in divers manners,” that is, in different
forms. The prophets used figurative and symbolic language as well as literal and historical
language. Haggai 2:6-7 illustrates this. The prophet spoke in terms of a cataclysmic shaking
of the universe. But the passage is quoted in Hebrews 12:26-27 and tells us what it actually
“signifies.” Hence the prophets sometimes used figurative language which signified
something else.
If all prophecy were interpreted literally, then Isaiah’s prophecy would make John the
Baptist the foreman of a road construction crew crying out to literally cut down mountains
and fill in valleys for a level place to build a literal highway for Jesus (Cf Isa. 40:3-5; Matt.
3:3; John 1:23).
When the Jews asked John if he were Elijah whom Malachi foretold would come, he
answered that he was not (Jn. 1:21). But Jesus said that he was! (Matt. 1729-13). The Jews,
like the millennialists, expected a literal fulfillment with a literal Elijah. John knew that and
denied it saying he was not that literal Elijah. When John’s birth was foretold the angel said
he would go before Jesus “in the spirit and power of Elijah” (Lk. 1:13-17). Jesus knew that
John’s spirit and power were those of Elijah and interpreted Malachi’s prophecy to be
fulfilled in that sense.
Conclusively the prophets used language other than literal.
(2) Interpretations of Old Testament prophecies:

(a) Must not contradict another Old Testament prophecy. Isaiah foresaw lions in the
Messianic kingdom (Isa. 11:6-8). Interpreted literally this contradicts Isaiah 35:8-9 which
affirms there shall be no lions there. Millennialism views-both chapters literally and cannot
easily discount the contradiction. But a figurative interpretation easily sees a future condition
of peace in both prophecies. One chapter views lions as gentle as lambs; in the other lions
are not to be found. In both, the peace of Christ is seen portrayed figuratively.
Ezekiel prophesied of Israel’s kingdom and said that “one king shall be king to them
all” (37:22). He then proceeds to name David as that king (v. 24). The literal interpretation
presents an insoluble problem inasmuch as another prophet foretold that Jehovah would
“raise unto David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king: (Jer. 23:5). Here it is not
David but the Branch who shall reign as king. Millennial literalism will cause two kings to
rule over Israel simultaneously whereas Ezekiel prophesied there shall be “one king.” An
obvious contradiction.
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Ezekiel 36:35 and 38:11-12 both speak of Israel’s security. In the first passage their
security is shown by dwelling in “fortified cities.” In the second their security is shown by
dwelling without walls having neither bars nor gates. The same truth is expressed in both
figures. Chapters 40-42 describes the city of God wherein dwell the people of God. But the
city is surrounded with massive walls (40:5; 42:20) and several gates along the walls (40:6,
8, 20, 24). Yet millennialists believe chapters 35-48 will be literally fulfilled in the
millennium. But which passage shall be literalized? 38:11 where there will be no walls? or
40:1-42:20 where there will be both walls and gates?
It should be clear that no interpretation of an Old Testament prophecy can contradict

another Old Testament prophecy and be true interpretation.
b. Must not contradict a New Testament interpretation. The Spirit who inspired Old
Testament prophecies often inspired New Testament interpretations of those prophecies. It
must be accepted as absolute that no interpretation of an Old Testament prophecy can be
considered true if it contradicts a New Testament interpretation. However, premillennialists,
because they do not believe the prophets spoke of the church age, boldly deny numerous New
Testament interpretations. For example, in Genesis 12:3 God promised Abraham, “in thee
shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” Paul quotes this Scripture and says it foresaw
justification by faith (Gal. 3:8). That seems clear enough. Yet, in total disregard for this plain
language, Walvoord comments that, “It is not specified what this blessing shall be . . . it is
obvious that the Abrahamic covenant does not contain the covenant of redemption, a
revelation of the sacrifice of Christ, a promise of forgiveness of sin, a promise of eternal life,
or any of the elements of salvation.”6 This statement clearly denies what was just said! Paul
specified that the blessing was justification by faith. Walvoord simply rejects Paul’s
redemptive interpretation because it contradicts his millennialism.
In one of Isaiah’s most famous prophecies (11:1-10), he described the character of

the Messianic King and his kingdom. In 11:10 he prophecies, “it shall come to pass in that
day” (when the wolf dwells with the lamb, etc.) that the Gentiles would also seek the Messiah.
Paul quotes this verse in Romans 1528-12 and interprets it to mean that the Gentiles can now
receive mercy from Christ. The question is: when did the Gentiles receive mercy from Christ?
The answer is: while Paul was writing Romans. He quoted Isaiah 11:10 and applied it to the
Christian age. Yet Isaiah said it would happen “in that day” when the wolf would lie down
with the lamb and lions would eat straw like oxen. But literal wolves are not lying down with
lambs. It was a figure of the peace we have with God through Jesus Christ our Lord (See Jn.
14:27: Rom.5:1; Col. 1:19-21). Any interpretation which sees this prophecy in the yet future
denies Paul’s inspired interpretation.
The prophecy of Amos 9:11-12 is set by millennialism for the future. But James
interpreted its meaning saying that, “God first visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people
for his name,” as Peter had just related in the case of the Gentile Cornelius (Acts 15:1-14).
Then James added, “And to this (salvation of the Gentiles) agree the words of the prophets”
(v. 15). Note the prophets agree with Peter’s gospel of salvation for the Gentiles, therefore
the prophets must have said so somewhere in the Old Testament. James tells us where by
saying, “as it is written” in Amos 9:11-12, which he quotes. Clearly Amos 9:11-12
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prophesied salvation for the Gentiles. We know this because James said so. That is his
inspired interpretation. But Walvoord denies James’ interpretation saying, “... in the council
at Jerusalem it was brought out by James in his quotation from Amos 9:11-12 . . . that a future
day was coming in which Israel would once again be restored.” Walwoord tries to make out
that James said Amos’ prophecy is yet future! This would make the use of language a farce.
Peter said that Gentiles can be saved through faith in Christ as Cornelius was and James said
the prophets agreed with that, and quoted Amos 9:11-12 as an example of prophetic
agreement. Regardless of what we think we think a prophecy may mean, if the New
Testament interprets it we must accept that interpretation though it contradicts our own. It is
a matter of respect for the authority of the word.
Another illustration foretells the pouring out of the Holy Spirit. Luke records its
fulfillment in Acts two where Peter claimed that “this is that which hath been spoken through
the prophet Joel: And it shall be in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all
flesh.” Peter claimed that Joel’s prophecy was being fulfilled at that moment. But
millennialism teaches that the prophets spoke of the kingdom which is yet future; they did
not speak of the church. Therefore, Joel could not have been speaking of what happened on
Pentecost. At this point they make a play on the “last days” saying that Joel’s prophecy is yet
future since it was for the last days of the church -not the first days of the church. But this
denies Peter’s interpretation that “this is that” which Joel prophesied. Therefore, the last days
were upon them.
It is a rule which is seen to emerge from a systematic study of Scripture that an

interpretation of an Old Testament prophecy must agree with the New Testament
interpretation of that prophecy to be accepted as true.
(3) Must accept the time element stated in scripture for the fulfillment of the prophecy.
a. The latter days. The Old Testament foresees the fulfillment of several prophecies
in “the latter days” (Cf Isa. 2:2; Ezek. 38:16; Dan. 2:28). A variation is the “latter years”
(Ezek. 38:8). A careful study of this prophetic terminology will disclose that it refers to the
latter time of a nation’s existence, whether of Israel or of another nation. Deuteronomy 421-
31 is Moses’ warning to Israel to keep the Sinaic covenant lest the nation be destroyed and
scattered out of the land. Knowing Israel would apostatize, God made provision for their
national preservation while in captivity: they were to return to obedience under the law. Then
Moses stated this would come upon them “in the latter days.” Obviously, since they had to
return under the law, this return had to be fulfilled before Christ abolished the law at the cross
(cf Eph. 2:15). The parallel passage provides for Israel to return and repossess the land
conditioned on their return to obedience under the law (Deut. 3021-5). These prophecies of
Israel’s apostasy, dispersion, and return have long since been fulfilled. The northern tribes
went into Assyrian captivity in 722-21 BC. and Judah’s final deportation to Babylon was in
586 BC. Moses prophesied that this would come upon Israel in the latter days. It is a fact,
then, that when that happened it was in Israel’s latter days as the theocratic nation.
Daniel prophesied the destruction of Alexander’s empire writing that “the vision
belongeth to the time of the end” (8:17). Gabriel commented on this vision telling Daniel: “I
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will make thee know what shall be in the latter time of the indignation, for it belongeth to the
appointed time of the end” (8: 19). Then Gabriel proceeds to interpret Daniel’s vision of the
ram and the he-goat as the kings of Medo-Persia and of Greece, whom we know was
Alexander the Great (8:20-21). Now this was all to happen “in the appointed time of the end,”
“the latter time of the indignation.” But it happened in the fourth century B.C. when
Alexander beat Darius 111. Then, in 8:23, Gabriel prophesies events to be fulfilled “in the
latter time of their kingdom,” that is, of the kingdom of Alexander’s successors (made clear
in v. 22) following his death in 323 BC. In chapter ten God revealed to Daniel what “shall
befall thy people (Daniel’s people, Israel) in the latter days” (10:14), and then proceeds to
speak of historical events which were fulfilled in the third and second centuries before Christ.
It is important to understand that to Israel such phrases as “the latter days,” “the latter years,”
“the time of the end,” “the time of the iniquity of the end,” would refer to the final days ~ the
waning years of her theocratic life as the chosen nation. That national life ended in AD. 70
with the destruction of Jerusalem. Therefore, all prophecies in the Old Testament that point
to their fulfillment in the latter days must have received their fulfillment before AD. 70. None
of those “latter days” prophecies are yet future, millennialism notwithstanding. The “latter
days” do not refer to the last days of earth time, but of national time.
In this light consider Daniel’s prophecy of the time of the establishment of the
kingdom of God (Dan. 2:26-45). Daniel spoke of four kingdoms: Babylon, Medo-Persia,
Greece (Alexander’s empire), and Rome, and prophesied that “in the days of those kings
shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed.” But he also said
that this prophecy would be fulfilled “in the latter days” (v. 28). When Jesus came, it was
during the time of the Roman empire, and he announced that, “The time is fulfilled, and the
kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Mk. 1:15). Christ came to establish his kingdom during the
days of the fourth kingdom as Daniel prophesied. But Daniel also prophesied that this would
be “in the latter days” (2:28). Thus, the latter days and the fourth kingdom (Rome) were
concurrent. It is therefore conclusive that the Roman period, during which time Jesus came
to establish his kingdom, was in “the latter days” of Daniel’s prophecy. No millennialism can
project this prophecy into the future and possibly agree with the time element fixed by Daniel
and claimed by Christ to be “fulfilled.” Furthermore, in the days of the Romans, the Lord,
about AD. 33, established his kingdom. So, the kingdom was established in the latter days of
Israel as the theocracy, and destroyed as a nation some forty years later (AD. 70).
Joel’s prophecy of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit was also foretold, Peter said, to
take place “in the latter days,” and claimed its fulfillment on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:16-
17). It was fulfilled in 33 AD. during Israel’s last days as a nation.
The Hebrew writer says that God earlier had spoken through the Old Testament
prophets “by divers portions and in divers manners” but “at the end of these days” had spoken
through Jesus (Heb. 1:1). With the coming of Christ that type of speaking ended. God no
longer spoke in fragments and hints.9 The “consummation of the ages,” foretold for hundreds
of years, received its fulfillment in the crucifixion of Christ (Heb. 9:26; I Pet. 1:20).
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No effort of the premillennialist to project “last days” prophecies into the future can
find sanction from the Old Testament use of the term, nor from the New Testament. The last
days of Israel are done and all those pr0phecies have been fulfilled.
b. Mark 1:15 versus the postponement theory. When Jesus announced, “the time is
fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand” (Mk. 1:15), he unmistakably pronounced the
first century as the time period for the fulfillment of the prophesied kingdom. Therefore, no
yet future time period can be set as the time for the kingdom’s establishment without
contradicting the Lord. Premillennialists make varied attempts to overcome their
contradiction of this Biblical time period, but seldom, if ever, do they mention Mark 1:15.10
Their doctrine is that the prophets foretold the time to establish the kingdom is at the second
coming, that is, a yet future date beyond 1978. This is due to their totally literal interpretation
of prophecy. In essence they teach that nothing like the temple in Ezekiel 40:1-462ff has been
historically built. Since it is to be literally interpreted then it must be literally built in the
future. Zechariah said that Jehovah would split the mount of Olives (14:4) and living waters
would go out of Jerusalem (v. 8). Nothing like that has happened so it must be yet in the
future. Ezekiel prophesied that David would be king over Israel (37:24) and that the Israelites
would return to the land of Canaan and repossess it (37:2125). Since none of that has yet
happened in history it must be yet in the future. Furthermore, they teach that the present
church age was “not predicted by the Old Testament and therefore (is) not fulfilling . . . the
program of events revealed in the Old Testament foreview.”11 In other words, the Christian
dispensation was not predicted by the prophets, and the events of the kingdom which were
predicted have not yet been fulfilled, therefore the Old Testament prophecies of the
kingdom’s establishment must be for the future. Yet Jesus said, “The time is fulfilled, and
the kingdom of God is at hand.” To offset this contradiction of prophetic time between
Christ’s claim and theirs, they teach that Jesus “sincerely” offered the kingdom to Israel, but
they turned it down. Jesus therefore postponed the kingdom to future time.
However, this combines to produce a double dilemma. That means that Jesus offered
the kingdom at the wrong time, and said it was the right time when it was not! They have
Jesus wrong on two counts: wrong as to the prophetic time of fulfillment (Mk. 1:15), and
wrong in his own timing since he “sincerely” offered to establish the kingdom before the
time prophesied.
Premillennialists must answer this question: when is the correct time period which
the prophets foretold for the establishing of the kingdom? Press this! If they say at Christ’s
first coming but it was postponed, they nevertheless say the prophets were wrong. They
missed it! Postponed or not, the prophets did not prophesy the right time. If they say the
kingdom was prophesied to be established at his second coming then Jesus was wrong for
saying the time was fulfilled when it wasn’t! Can you beat that? Jesus said the kingdom was
at hand, but it wasn’t! One millenarian position makes the prophets wrong; the other makes
Jesus Christ wrong.
The prophetic time period for the Messianic kingdom was foretold to be “in the latter
days” (Dan. 2:28-44). But Jesus claimed it was in his days (Mk. 1:15). Therefore, the last
days were in Jesus’ days; not the future, but the past. It is essential that we accept the
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prophetic time element for the fulfillment of the kingdom prophecies as announced by both
the prophets and Christ.
II. PREMILIENNIAL INTERPRETATIONS AND THEIR FALLACIES
(1) The church and the gospel age are unknown to the Old Testament.
Dispensationalists believe the Old Testament prophets foresaw nothing of the gospel
dispensation. Walvoord represents them: “The New Testament makes plain according to the
premillennial interpretation that God’s present purpose is not the fulfillment of the prophecies
of the Old Testament” . . . “Premillennialism places the millennium after the second advent
and therefore divorces it from the present church age.” Hal Lindsey claims the prophets
painted two different portraits of the Messiah, one saw him as the suffering servant at his first
coming, the other saw him as the conquering and reigning King at his second coming. He
claims the prophets foresaw Christ and his kingdom as two mountain peaks, one beyond the
other. “However, from this vantage point, he cannot see the valley which separates these two
mountains.”15That “valley” is the church age. Since the millennialists believe the kingdom
is yet future they cannot believe the church is the kingdom. Dr. Bales correctly deducts their
position: “The Old Testament promised but one everlasting kingdom . . . therefore unless the
church is that kingdom, the church was not prophesied.”
This position is due to their totally literal interpretation of Scripture. Since the
prophets saw the Messiah reigning personally in Jerusalem, since he is to reign for a literal
one thousand years (Revelation 20), and since that earthly kingdom has not yet been
established it must be in the future. Thus, Walvoord writes: “The concept of the present age
is therefore vitally affected by the doctrine of the millennium.”
Dispensationalists view the church age as a kind of “parenthesis”18between the

prophets’ view of the first and second coming of Christ: “The present age is a parenthesis or
a time period not predicted by the Old Testament and therefore not fulfilling or advancing
the program of events revealed in the Old Testament foreview.”19They seek to explain this
from Paul’s teaching on the Mystery by making a subtle play on the definition of the word
mystery: “It is . . . the truth relating to the church (which) was once hidden, i.e., in the Old
Testament, but is now revealed in the New Testament.” They then teach that since the church
was a mystery hidden from the prophets is was not mentioned by them.
Fallacies of Premillennial Reasoning
(a) The mystery. Two things must be clarified. First, because the meaning of the
prophecies was often hidden and were therefore a mustery to both the prophets and those
who read them, does not mean that they did not mention those things. It simply means they
did not understand all they said. Carefully read Romans 16:25-26; I Corinthians 2:6-10;
Ephesians 323-5; 1 Peter 1:10-12 as illustrations of the fact that what was prophesied by them
was a mystery for the meaning was hidden from them. Second, millennialists believe the
pr0phets spoke of Christ as the suffering servant who died for our sins (Isa. 53). But is not
that the essence of the gospel? Because Isaiah did not understand what he prophesied does
not mean he did not prophesy it. Acts 8:26-40 records the inspired evangelist interpreting
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Isaiah 53 in terms of Christ crucified for remission of sins by faith at the point of baptism.
Millennialists admit that the prophets foresaw Christ and him crucified, yet even this was a
mystery to the prophets. The full meaning of Isaiah 53 was not understood by Isaiah; it was
a mystery to him. Yet he spoke of Christ crucified and justification from sin. The meaning
was hidden, it was not fully revealed, but that must not be construed to mean that it was not
therefore prophesied. To claim that the prophets spoke of Christ but not of the gospel makes
as much sense as speaking of Christ apart from the cross. Impossible!
(1) The gospel-church age. When it is shown that the church and the gospel were
foreseen by the prophets, premillennialism is dead. According to the New Testament, it is
made abundantly clear that the Old Testament prophets spoke of the gospel age. That is an
absolute matter of revelation, not of interpretation. However, dispensationalists do not view
the church as an afterthought. While they do not believe the church
was foreseen by the prophets, they do teach it is in the purpose of God as per
Ephesians 3:1-13.21 Now let us see that the church was in the prophecies. Jesus said that the
things written in the law, the prophets, and the Psalms were fulfilled in his death and
resurrection, and in remission of sins (Lk. 24:44-47). Since remission of sins is the gospel
feature, the prophets spoke of the gospel. And, since those who receive remission of sins
constitute the church, the prophets spoke of the church age. Case closed! Peter plainly
declared that the prophets were concerned with salvation, that they “prophesied of the grace
that should come unto you,” and “testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glories
that should follow them” (1 Pet. 1:10-11). N0 statement in the Bible is clearer to show the
prophets spoke of the gospel age. And, in verse 12, Peter says that when inspired men
preached the gospel they “announced” what the prophets had ministered. Paul claimed the
he preached “nothing but what the prophets and Moses did say should come” (Acts 26:22-
23). But it is a fact that Paul preached the gospel. Since he preached what Moses and the
prophets said would come it is absolute that Moses and the prophets spoke of the gospel-
church age.
These Scriptures reveal the divine interpretation of the meaning of Old Testament
Scriptures. It is thus established that all Old Testament Messianic prophecy is fulfilled in
redemptive Christianity. Any interpretation of those prophecies in yet a future, nationalistic,
and physical sense is a manifest contradiction of the redemptive quality of those prophecies
as divinely interpreted by Peter, Paul, and the Lord himself. See also Acts 13:23-41; 15:13-
18; Romans 9:22-26; 1528-12 which show the prophets spoke of the gospel age. But since
the prophets spoke of the gospel-church age, all those prophecies have been fulfilled and will
therefore not be fulfilled at a future time. Premillennialism is therefore dead.
(2) The Abrahamic covenant not yet fulfilled. Genesis 12:13 record God’s promise to
Abraham and his seed to receive the land of Canaan (amplified in Gen. 15:1-7; 1721-18).
The promise includes both extent and duration of possession. Millennialists are adamant.
They claim Israel has never received all the land promised. God thus has to fulfill this in
order to be true. Also, they emphasize that God called it an “everlasting” covenant (Gen.
17:7) and that the land was an “everlasting possession” (Gen. 17:8). Therefore, Israel must
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receive all the land in the millennium and that “this promise guarantees both the everlasting
continuance of the seed as a nation and its everlasting possession of the land.”22Due to
millennial literalizing this land promise is a major issue. It “is the question of whether Israel
as a nation and as a race has a prophesied future. A literal interpretation of the Abrahamic
covenant involves the permanent existence of Israel as a nation and the fulfillment of the
promise that the land shall be their everlasting posession.”23 Thus, their claim for Israel to
receive the land in the millennium is threefold: (l) the promise was made unconditionally,
therefore no contingencies or conditions can restrain Israel from receiving the land,24 (2)
they shall possess all the land in the millennium, (3) and shall possess it eternally.
(a) The land promise already fulfilled. The Bible is explicit; the land has been totally
possessed and dwelt in. The extent of the land to be received (Gen. 15:18-21) is expressly
stated to have been ruled over by Solomon (1 Kgs. 4:21). Joshua 2124345 declares manifestly
that God “gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers, and they
possessed it, and dwelt in it.” Millenarians deny what Scripture plainly affirms. “ . at no time
was all the land occupied by Israel.” What, then, did Joshua mean when he said that Israel
possessed and dwelt in all the land? Is that no the same as “occupied”? Israel has already
obtained the land promise. That is absolute.
(b) The meaning of “everlasting.” On the basis of Genesis 17:8 millennialists object
that the land promised was “an everlasting possession.” They argue from their literal
interpretation that, for God to be true, Israel must possess it eternally. But keep in mind that
“everlasting” in Hebrew means “age lasting.” The context and subject matter must determine
whether eternity or a shorter age of duration is intended. Then, look carefully at what
premillennialists are going to have if they press “everlasting” literally:
(1a.) Ezekiel 37:25 and Genesis 15:18-21 stipulate the land to be possessed was the
land right here on this earth! It will be the land of Abraham’s sojourn, the land of Canaan
(Gen. 17:8). But, if that is literal, then Israel cannot dwell in the “new earth” of Isaiah 65:17ff
for that is not the land of Canaan. Abraham never sojourned in it! Walvoord slurs over this
saying the promise will be fulfilled “in the future millennial kingdom and will issue in
possessions in the eternal new earth.”26 But this cannot be consistent with their literal
interpretation. If Israel receives the land eternally it cannot issue in possessions in the new
earth for the fathers never sojourned or dwelt there!
(2b.) Genesis 17:11-14 says that circumcision was an “everlasting covenant” to be

practiced in the land. But Paul tells us that God did not intend for circumcision to continue
endlessly (Acts 15:1-29; Gal. 5:2-4). On millennial terms circumcision should never have
ceased! On those terms the ones occupying the land in the millennium must be circumcised.
God forbid! (cf Gal. 5:4).
(3a.) Exodus 40:12-15 says the Aaronic priesthood is to be everlasting. Yet Psalm
110 makes it clear that the Aaronic priesthood was not to be eternal. Hebrews 7:11-25 shows
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that God annulled that priesthood and gave to us the Melchizedekian priesthood of Christ.
According to millennialists, there will be two eternal priesthoods! What a mess.
(C) The land promises in the prophets. Premillennialists observe that even if Israel
did receive all the land they were dispossessed. Since that land was to be possessed
everlastingly, and since it was prophesied later that Israel would repossess the land forever,
are not those prophecies yet to be fulfilled? Ezekiel 34:23-31 and 37:21-28 are examples. But
as we have already seen, the restoration of the land is as the restoration of David -~ it is
figurative, fulfilled in Christ; not literal David, but spiritual David. Since the eternal new
Covenant of these passages has been fulfilled (cf Heb. 13:20), and since the David of these
prophecies received fulfillment in Christ, so the return to “the land” of those prophecies has
been fulfilled in the same way. Will they literalize the land? Let them literalize Jesus as “a
shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots” (Isa. 11:1); let them literalize
Gog and Magog as Russia and their battle against Israel being fought with bows and arrows
for weapons, with shields, bucklers, hand staves, and spears! Israel’s present military
machine will go for that. Literalize it and Israel will reject it again!
(3.) The New Covenant of Jeremiah 31:31-34 not yet fulfilled. Consistent with the
inherent nature of their literal interpretation of all prophecies millennialists do not believe
the prophecy of the New Covenant has been fulfilled. Since it was promised to be made with
“the house of Israel” (Jer. 31:31), and since Israel rejected Jesus’ offer of the kingdom, and
since all those prophecies were postponed, therefore all those prophecies including Jeremiah
31231-34 is yet to be fulfilled.
Hebrews 8:6-12 quotes Jeremiah 31:31-34 as the new covenant which is the “second
covenant” that was “sought for.” Hebrews 9:15 then states that in Jesus’ death he mediated
the new covenant, and Hebrews 13:20 says that God brought Jesus from the dead “with the
blood of an eternal covenant.” Ask yourself how many new covenants were promised to
Israel? Only one. But a new covenant promised to Israel, who already had a covenant (the
Sinaic), necessarily implies a second covenant. Israel had one when she was promised a new
one. Thus, the new covenant promised was a second covenant to be given to Israel. The
Hebrew writer says the new covenant was the second covenant “sought for” (8:6). Who
sought for it? Israel did. It was promised to her. The epistle of Hebrews was written to
Israelite Christians. To them it was said that new covenant was mediated by the Lord’s death,
that it was an eternal covenant dedicated (9:18) by his blood. Then, speaking of the covenants
as wills, he says of Jesus, “He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. By
which will we have been sanctified” (Heb. 10:9-10). Here it is: Israelite Christians have
received a covenant by which they have been sanctified. It is the second covenant they sought
for, which is as everlasting as Ezekiel 37:26 implied. Only one new covenant was promised
whereby Israel would be sanctified (have sins forgiven). That was Jeremiah 31131-34. But
these Hebrew Christians were being sanctified saved by a new covenant bought with the
blood of Jesus.
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In Hebrews 818-12, Jeremiah 31 :31-34 is quoted. This is immediately followed by
the statement that, “In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. But that
which is becoming old and waxeth aged is nigh unto vanishing away” (v. 13). Read the
passage carefully. The inspired writer says a new covenant was “sought for,” quotes the
promise of the new (second) covenant, from Jeremiah, and then says in verse 13 that the first
covenant became old when Jeremiah spoke of the new one, and that anything old is near to
vanishing away. Then, in chapters nine and ten, he shows the vanishing of the old and the
bringing in of the new by the death of Christ for the salvation from sin of the Jews to whom
the promise was made. Then, he declares that those Hebrews were being “sanctified” by that
new second covenant he had been talking so much about.
Millennialists try to get away from this by making Hebrews 8:14 sound like it says
something else: “A further statement is made that the Old Testament is ‘becoming old’ and
‘is nigh unto vanishing away.’ It should be noted that nowhere in this passage is the new
covenant with Israel declared to be in force.”28 But read the passage! Notice Hebrews 8:13
states it expressly that at the very moment Jeremiah said that the Lord would make a new
covenant, that at the moment the words left his mouth, the Mosaic covenant became old: “In
that he SAITH, A new covenant, he HATH MADE THE FIRST OLD.” When did God make
the first covenant old? At the very moment, he said he would make a new one! That was 600
BC! Then, reasoning from the basis that the Mosaic covenant was already old, and that
anything old is nigh unto vanishing away, he goes on to relate in 9:15 and 10:9-10 the
bringing in of the new covenant. He does not say that the old covenant was only nigh unto
vanishing at the time of the writing of the epistle to the Hebrews, as if the old covenant were
in effect at that time. But that it was old and nigh unto vanishing immediately following
Jeremiah’s pr0phetic promise.
(4.) The restoration of the law with its priesthood and animal sacrifices. When
Jeremiah prophesied that the “Branch of righteousness” (Jesus) would rule eternally, he also
said, “Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt-offerings, and
to burn meal-offerings, and to do sacrifice continually” (Jer. 33:15-18). Ezekiel chapters 40-
46 speaks of the city of God with its temple and Levitical priests officiating according to the
law of Moses, offering sin-offerings for the acceptance of the people (see 46:19, 27).
Premillennialists fully believe these prophecies will be fulfilled in the millennium, as we
have said, because of their literal theory of interpretation.
But the Levitical priesthood cannot be brought back without a change of the law as
an essential consequence (Heb. 7:12). This would necessitate a change from gospel back to
Mosaic law. And, those sacrifices cannot provide remission of sins (Heb. 1021-4). This
brings premillennialism into direct conflict with Christianity and the salvation of our souls
from sin! Christ’s priesthood and sacrifice provide us with remission of sins now (Heb. 7:23-
28; 9:11-15; 10:14; 13:20). And, in the economy of God there can be no more offering of
sacrifices for sin where remission of sins has been obtained (Heb. 10:18).
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It is therefore conclusive that dispensational literalism stands at cross purposes with
the gospel of Christ and the redemption of all men. It wants these prophecies with Levitical
priests and animal blood to be fulfilled literally in the millennium while redemption by Jesus
continues! But, God will not accept any other sin offering while Christ’s sacrifice obtains
remission of sins. It is a contradiction of Hebrews 10:18.
CONCLUSION
Does premillennialism warrant the emphasis given in this-lectureship? Emphatically.

For it is not merely the literal interpretation of the millennium of Revelation 20. It has no
regard for the place of the church in prophecy, it has no understanding of God’s purpose in
the church to glorify him in time and throughout eternity (Eph. 3:20-21). Its literalism
demands the reinstitution of the law with its priesthood and animal blood which cannot take
away sins; and, thus, stands opposed to the redemption of all mankind in the future. By its
very nature, it stands opposed to the finished work of Christ which he accomplished in his
death and in the establishment of the church of the new covenant. Premillennialism is not
simply a false doctrine of no consequence - it is subtle, deceptive, and deadly.
Source: Ed. Wendell Winkler. The First Annual “Forth Worth” Lectures, 1978 –
“Premillennialism True or False?” Edward C. Wharton: The Interpretation of Prophecy.
Pages 53-67.
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INTERPRETING OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY
(Dale W. Manor)
The religious programming that permeates the airwaves of America provides

sensational claims of imminent doom and redemption. Many televangelists tout an odd
mixture of depression and joy in their extensive and sensationalistic quotations of Scripture.
If viewers are not turned off by the tirade, they often are so derailed by the rapid-fire delivery
and apparent congruence of passages-with-events that they assume the speakers know of
what they speak. Context of discussion and sensitivity to literary types are usually issues to
which the modern prophetic market is oblivious. But, surely there are controls by which we
can narrow the field of interpretations. Otherwise we are susceptible to whimsical fads,
subjectivism, and the ever-shifting flow of history.
This essay will consider only briefly a few of the issues within the biblical text of
which we need to be sensitive. These will permit us better to understand the prophetic
utterances by providing interpretive controls on the text.
PROBLEMS STUDYING THE OLD TESTAMENT
The difficulties we encounter in studying the Hebrew Bible fall into two categories:
objective issues and subjective issues.
Many of the sensationalistic interpreters of the Bible claim that the Bible is like a
newspaper, providing insight and understanding of modern events—all you have to do is read
it and it will come to light. The fallacy of this claim is that even a newspaper contains varying
kinds of literature. No one reads the editorial page with the same interpretive criteria as he
would the cartoon page. The stock listings require different strategies than does the sports
section. And the front-page current events are interpreted differently than the Home and
Garden section. These categories are what the literary world refers to as genres of literature.
A proper understanding of a particular genre requires sensitivity to the nature of the

literature.
Similarly, in the Bible we do not read the Psalms the same way we do the historical
books nor do we study the genealogies the same way we do prophetic literature. But
complicating the picture further is the fact that the Hebrew Bible was not originally written
in English, and is not even a literary product of Western civilization. The cultural and
ideological mode of the Old Testament is very eastern in character.
Recognition of this eastern cultural mindset is not to imply that the Bible is false or
in error. It simply means that we need to try to be sensitive to the mode by which God
expresses his truth. Part of the control by which we bring this confusion into focus is to learn
the history of the world contemporary with the events of the Bible, learn the cultural settings
of the narrations, and try to put ourselves into the world of the Bible.
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The second problem area of studying the Old Testament is subjective in character.
The beginning student of the Bible tends to read the Bible predominantly from his own
perspective—from the perspective of his own prejudices, assumptions, and culture. This
results in eisegesis—a reading into the Bible one’s own presuppositions, sometimes even to
the point of making the Bible fit one’s own preconceived conclusions. Sadly, many people
never mature beyond this methodology.
The alternative, to which essentially all scholars and students at least give lip service,
is exegesis—an attempt to understand the Bible and its message in its original context,
determining what God wants us to know, and then applying those lessons to our own lives.
While exegesis is often limited to a linguistic analysis, a larger exegetical context is again
consideration of the cultural, social, economic, political, and environmental context of a
given passage of Scripture.
With this broader definition of exegesis, likely no one will ever attain a complete
understanding. Eisegesis is probably a varying component of all people’s study of the Bible,
but our effort throughout life should be to minimize the eisegesis and to maximize the
exegesis, thus reducing the subjective element of our understanding.
LITERAL OR FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONS
While recognizing these objective and subjective problems of Old Testament study,
we need to ask how the Lord’s prophets communicated. The Hebrew writer declares: “In
many and various ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets” (Heb. 1:1). [All
scripture references are from the Revised Standard Version unless otherwise noted.] Such a
statement warns us to be alert to different prophetic modes.
One way the prophets prophesied was to speak forthrightly and literally. The
unnamed prophet from Judah spoke very literally when he cried against the altar in Bethel:
“O altar, altar, thus says the Lord; ‘Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah
by name; and he shall sacrifice upon you the priests of the high places who burn incense upon
you, and men’s bones shall be burned upon you’” (1 Kgs. 13:2). The sages of Josiah’s time
understood the prophecy and informed Josiah of its existence (2 Kgs. 23:15-17).
The prophets, however, spoke also figuratively. We must understand that

“figuratively” does not detract from truthfully. Modern people often speak figuratively, while
not diminishing the truthfulness of the remarks. Because of our intimate familiarity with our
own culture, we often unconsciously use figures of speech without compromising the truth
of our remarks. The process usually requires no deliberate mental process to identify the truth
in the figure.
A modern example of such a figurative expression would be to refer to an employee

who has quit his job to “go find greener pastures.” Likely no one would take this remark
literally to refer to a search for grasslands of more intense chromatic quality. Instead, by
second nature we understand that the person had moved on to a job that was more rewarding.
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The modern biblical interpreter has to be cautious about such figurative language lest
he impose a literality meaning upon the text that was not intended. Modern end-of-timers
like to note Jesus’ discussion of the celestial disruption as indications of the end of time (cf.
Lk. 21:25- 28). Their interpretation assumes that only with the final return of Jesus could
such cataclysms occur. But the Hebrew prophets spoke in terms of judgment on the nations
in such celestially cataclysmic imagery (cf. Isa. 13 against Babylon; Ezek. 32:1-8; against
Egypt; Amos 8:4-10 against Israel). And yet, when those judgments occurred, there is no
evidence of literal celestial cataclysms occurring, but most certainly for the social, political,
and cultural lives of the people involved, it was as if (and maybe might have been better if)
the world had ended! Admittedly, the presence of these images does not preclude there being
literal cataclysmic events surrounding the return of Jesus for judgment, but they should
certainly demand caution against presuming that his final return is the only possibility of such
occurrences!
A host of literary devices exist by which communication occurs. In English we

regularly use metaphors, similes, hyperboles, metonymys, synecdoches, personifications,
and others. These usually pose no obstacle to our ability to communicate and in reality, they
enhance the power of the message.
In addition to the evidence of his existence inferred from nature (cf. Psa. 19:1; Rm.
1:19-20), God chose the vehicle of language to communicate his thoughts and intents for
humanity. It should come as no surprise that he used various modes of communication to
accomplish that task. We have the responsibility to listen carefully and discriminately to how
he has spoken. Only then can we begin to learn what he wants in our lives.
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “At His Coming” - 1998, Dale W. Manor: Interpreting
Old Testament Prophecy. Pages 254-257.
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Error
ERROR
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THE INTERPRETATION OF PROPHECY: AN EXERCISE IN IMAGINATION
OR THE APPLICATION OF PLAIN SENSE?
(Dr. David R. Reagan)
When I was about 12 years old, I stumbled across Zechariah 14. It was an amazing
discovery. You see, I grew up in a church where we were told over and over that “there is
not one verse in the Bible that even implies that Jesus will ever set His feet on this earth
again.”
Simple Language
Well, Zechariah 14 not only implies that the Lord is coming back to this earth again,
it says so point-blank! It says that the Lord will return to this earth at a time when the Jews
are back in the land of Israel and their capital city, Jerusalem, is under siege. Just as the city
is about to fall, the Lord will return to the Mount of Olives.
When His feet touch the ground, the mount will split in half. The remnant of Jews left
in the city will take refuge in the cleavage of the mountain. The Lord will then speak a
supernatural word, and the armies surrounding Jerusalem will be destroyed in an instant.
Verse 9 declares that on that day “the Lord will be king over all the earth.”
Muddled Interpretations
When I first discovered this passage, I took it to my minister and asked him what it
meant. I will never forget his response. He thought for a moment, and then He said, “Son I
don’t know what it means, but I’ll guarantee you one thing: it doesn’t mean what it says!”
For years after that, I would show Zechariah 14 to every visiting evangelist who came
preaching that Jesus would never return to this earth. I always received the same response:
“It doesn’t mean what it says.” I couldn’t buy that answer.
Finally, I ran across a minister who was a seminary graduate, and he gave me the
answer I could live with. “Nothing in Zechariah means what it says,” he explained, “because
the whole book is apocalyptic.”
Now, I didn’t have the slightest idea what “apocalyptic” meant. I didn’t know if it was a
disease or a philosophy. But it sounded sophisticated, and, after all, the fellow was a seminary
graduate, so he should know.
A Discovery Experience
When I began to preach, I parroted what I had heard from the pulpit all my life. When
I spoke on prophecy, I would always make the point that Jesus will never return to this earth.
Occasionally, people would come up after the sermon and ask, “What about Zechariah 14?”
I would snap back at them with one word: “APOCALYPTIC!” They would usually run for
the door in fright. They didn’t know what I was talking about (and neither did I).
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Then one day I sat down and read the whole book of Zechariah. And guess what? My
entire argument went down the drain!
I discovered that the book contains many prophecies about the First Coming of Jesus,
and I discovered that all those prophecies meant what they said. It suddenly occurred to me
that if Zechariah’s First Coming prophecies meant what they said, then why shouldn’t his
Second Coming promises mean what they say?
The Plain Sense Rule
That was the day that I stopped playing games with God’s Prophetic Word. I started
accepting it for its plain sense meaning. I decided that:
“if the plain sense makes sense, I would look for no other sense, lest I end up with
nonsense.”
A good example of the nonsense approach is one I found several years ago in a book
on the Millennium. The author spiritualized all of Zechariah 14. He argued that the Mount of
Olives is symbolic of the human heart surrounded by evil. When a person accepts Jesus as
Savior, Jesus comes into the person’s life and stands on his “Mount of Olives” (his heart).
The person’s heart breaks in contrition (the cleaving of the mountain), and Jesus then defeats
the enemy forces in the person’s life.
Hard to believe, isn’t it? When people insist on spiritualizing the Scriptures like this,
the Scriptures end up meaning whatever they want them to mean.
Keys to Understanding
I believe God knows how to communicate. I believe He says what He means and
means what He says. I don’t believe you have to have a doctorate in hermeneutics to
understand the Bible. The essentials, instead, are an honest heart and the filling of God’s
Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-16).
One crucial key is to approach the Scriptures with childlike faith. Dr. Henry Morris
addresses this issue in his great commentary on Revelation, called The Revelation Record.
He says, “Revelation is not difficult to understand. It is difficult to believe. If you will believe
it, you will understand it.”
For example, in Revelation 7 it says that at the start of the Tribulation God is going
to seal a great host of Jews to serve as His special “bond-servants.” The text specifies that
the number will be 144,000, and that 12,000 will be selected from each of 12 specified tribes.
Now, I ask you: What would God have to do to convince us that He intends to set aside
144,000 Jews for special service during the Tribulation? The text is crystal clear. Yet,
hundreds of commentators have denied the clear meaning and have spiritualized the passage
to make it refer to the Church! This is reckless handling of God’s Word, and it produces
nothing but confusion.
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The Meaning of Symbols
“But what about symbols?” some ask. Another crucial key is to keep in mind that a
symbol stands for something, otherwise it would not be a symbol. There is always a literal
reality or plain sense meaning behind every symbol.
Jesus is called “the rose of Sharon.” He is not referred to as “the tumbleweed of

Texas.” The image that a rose conjures up is something beautiful; a tumbleweed is ugly.
The Bible is its own best interpreter as to the meaning of the symbols which it uses.
Sometimes the symbols are clearly explained, as when God reveals to Ezekiel the meaning
of the symbols in his vision of the valley of dry bones (Ezekiel 37:11-14). In like manner,
the apostle John was told the meaning of certain symbols which he saw in his Patmos vision
of the glorified Lord (Revelation 1:20).
At other times, a simple search of the Scriptures will reveal the meaning of a symbol.
Consider the statement in Revelation 12:14 where it says that the Jewish remnant will escape
from the Antichrist into the wilderness “on the two wings of the great eagle.”
Is this a literal eagle? Is it an air lift provided by the U.S.A. whose national symbol is
an eagle?
A concordance search will show that the same symbolism is used in Exodus 19:4 to
describe the flight of the children of Israel as they escaped from Egypt. The symbol, as
Exodus 19 makes clear, is a poetic reference to the loving care of God.
The Importance of Context
Another key to understanding prophecy is one that applies to the interpretation of all
Scripture. It is the principle that the meaning of words is determined by their context.
I ran across a good example of this problem recently in a book in which the author
was trying to prove that Jesus is never coming back to reign upon this earth. Such a position,
of course, required him to spiritualize Revelation chapter 20 where it says six times that there
will be a reign of the Lord that will last one thousand years.
In this author’s desperate attempt to explain away the thousand years, he referred to
Psalm 50:10 where it says that God owns “the cattle on a thousand hills.” He then asked,
“Are there only one thousand hills in the world?” He answered his question, “Of course not!”
He then proceeded to explain that the term is used figuratively. But then he made a quantum
leap in logic by proclaiming, “therefore, the term, ‘one thousand,’ is always used
symbolically.”
Not so. It depends on context. In Psalm 50 the term is clearly symbolic. But in
Revelation 20, it is not so. Again, the thousand years is mentioned six times. What would the
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Lord have to do to convince us that He means a thousand years? Put it in the sky in neon
lights? Pay attention to context!
Reconciling Passages
An additional key to understanding prophecy is one that applies to all Scripture. It is

the principle of searching out everything that the Bible has to say on a particular point.
Avoid hanging a doctrine on one isolated verse. All verses on a particular topic must
be searched out, compared, and then reconciled.
Let me give you a prophetic example. Second Peter 3:10 says that when the Lord
returns, “the heavens will pass away with a roar…and the earth and its works will be burned
up.” Now, if this were the only verse in the Bible about the Second Coming, we could
confidently conclude that the heavens and earth will be burned up on the day that Jesus
returns.
But, there are many other verses in both the Old and New Testaments, which make it
abundantly clear that the Lord will reign over all the earth before it is consumed with fire.
Those verses must be considered together with the passage in 2 Peter 3 in order to get the
correct overall view.
Special Problems
There are some special problems related to prophetic interpretation. One is that
prophecy is often prefilled in symbolic type before it is completely fulfilled.
In this regard, I feel certain that the Jewish people must have felt that Antiochus
Epiphanes fulfilled Daniel’s prophecies about a tyrannical leader who would severely
persecute the Jews. But 200 years after Antiochus, Jesus took those prophecies of Daniel and
told His disciples they were yet to be fulfilled.
Another example is the sign which Isaiah gave to King Ahaz to assure him that the
city of Jerusalem would not fall to the Syrians who had it under siege. The sign was that a
young woman would give birth to a son whose name would be called Immanuel (Isaiah 7:1-
19). The passage certainly implies that such a boy was born at that time.
But hundreds of years later, Matthew, by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, reached back
to Isaiah’s prophecy and proclaimed that its ultimate fulfillment was to be found in the virgin
birth of Jesus (Matthew 1:22-23).
Compressed Time
Another peculiar feature of prophetic literature is called “telescoping.” This occurs

when a prophet compresses the time interval between two prophetic events. This
phenomenon is very common.
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The reason for it has to do with the perspective of the prophet. As he looks into the
future and sees a series of prophetic events, they appear to him as if they are in immediate
sequence.
It is like looking down a mountain range and viewing three peaks, one behind the other, each
sequentially higher than the one in front of it. The peaks look like they are right up against
each other because the person viewing them cannot see the valleys that separate them.
In Zechariah 9:9-10 there is a passage with three prophecies which are compressed
into two verses but are widely separated in time. Verse 9 says the Messiah will come humbly
on a donkey. The first part of verse 10 says the Jewish people will be set aside. The second
part of verse 10 says the Messiah will reign over all the nations.
These three events — the First Coming, the setting aside of Israel, and the reign of
Christ — appear to occur in quick succession, but in reality, there were 40 years between the
first two events, and there have been over 1,900 years thus far between the second and third
events.
Another way of viewing the phenomenon of telescoping is to focus on what are called
“prophetic gaps.” These are the time periods between the mountain peak prophetic events.
Because the Old Testament rabbis could not see the gap between the first and second
comings of the Messiah, some theorized that there would be two Messiahs — a “Messiah
ben Joseph” who would suffer and a “Messiah ben David” who would conquer. From our
New Testament perspective, we can see that the Old Testament prophets were speaking of
one Messiah who would come twice. We can see the gap between the two comings.
A Challenge
I ask you: How do you treat Zechariah 14 — as fact or fiction? Are you guilty of
playing games with God’s Word in order to justify sacred traditions and doctrines of men?
I challenge you to interpret God’s Word — all of it — for its plain sense meaning. As you
do so, you are very likely to find yourself challenged to discard old doctrines and to adopt
new ones. This will be a painful process, but it will be a fruitful one, for you will be blessed
with the truth of God’s Word.
“If you abide in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you shall know the truth,
and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
Source: http://christinprophecy.org/articles/the-interpretation-of-prophecy/
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BASIC CONSIDERATIONS IN INTERPRETING PROPHECY
(John F. Walvoord)
President and Professor of Systematic Theology, Dallas Theological Seminary.
The wide diversity in the interpretation of prophecy alerts anyone who approaches
this field of biblical exegesis that there are also widely differing principles of interpretation.
How can it be that reputable scholars who agree on many basic Christian doctrines interpret
the prophetic portions of Scripture with such differing results? How can this be explained?
Differing Views of the Bible
One of the most obvious reasons for difference in interpretation in prophecy is that
scholars do not all regard the Bible as having the same authority and accuracy. Liberal
theologians tend to regard the Bible as a human instrument written by fallible men, and
therefore conclude that the Scriptures are not infallible. It is understandable that liberals have
no clear conclusions about the future. Some question the validity of prediction itself on the
grounds that no one knows the future. Others accept the premise that prophecy is in some
cases true and in other cases not true. This leaves the interpreter with the difficult question
of sorting out the true from the false. Generally, there is little scholarly discussion of
prophecy among those who are clearly liberal in their approach to the Bible.
Among conservatives who regard the Bible as authoritative in prophecy as in history,

a more serious attempt is made to try to determine what the Bible actually reveals. Here the
diversity is not based on the premise that the Bible in some respects is untrue; instead, the
difficulty arises in various schools of interpretation.
Major Schools of Interpretation
Most Bible scholars recognize at least three major approaches to prophecy, all dealing
primarily with the doctrine of the millennium. The most ancient view, that of the church of
the first few centuries, was what is known today as premillennialism or chiliasm.
Premillenarians assert that the second coming of Christ will precede a millennium or a
thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. Chiliasm is another word (derived from the Greek
χιλιὸς “one thousand”) which affirms the same doctrine. Most impartial interpreters of the
history of doctrine agree that premillennialism was the doctrine of the early church.
Adherents of this view hold that Christ taught that His second coming would be followed by
His kingdom on earth, as indicated in such passages as Matthew 20:20-23; Luke 1:32-33,
22:29-30; Acts 1:6-7. In the first two centuries of the church there seems to have been an
absence of any controversy on this point.
Premillenarians cite many early adherents of their interpretation, such as Papias, who
was acquainted with the Apostle John and many others such as Aristio, John the Presbyter,
and a number of the twelve apostles including Andrew, Peter, Philip, Thomas, James, John,
and Matthew. G. N. H. Peters also lists in the first two centuries premillenarians such as
Clement of Rome, Barnabas, Hermas, Ignatius, and Polycarp.1 It was not until the close of
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the second century and the beginning of the third century that specific opposition to this view
seems to have arisen. In the second and third centuries, however, many other premillenarians
surfaced in their writings, including Cyprian (200-258), Commodian (200-270), Nepos (230-
280), Coracion (230-280), Victorinus (240-303), Methodius (250-311), and Lactantius (240-
330). While the premillennial views of some of these have been challenged, it is
unquestionably true that Nepos was an ardent defender of premillennialism in North Africa
and he was joined by Commodian. Even opponents of premillennialism concede that there
was a broad premillennial teaching in the first three centuries.
A second prominent approach to prophecy is the view which has been called
amillennialism since the nineteenth century . It is basically a nonmillennial view, which
teaches that there will be no literal millennium after the second advent of Christ. While
amillenarians tend to avoid identification of any adherents of their view, they usually find
the first strong advocacy of amillennialism in the school of theology at Alexandria, Egypt,
with the first adherents appearing about A.D. 190. A few writers claim that amillennialism
existed earlier. Landis, for example, tries to trace amillennialism back to Christ and the
apostles.2 Most amillenarians, however, claim that it had its beginning in the second and
third centuries. And yet even careful scholars like Berkhof 3 tend to slur over the facts by
claiming that amillennialism was prominent in both the second and the third centuries, when
actually it was practically all in the third century except for the last ten years of the second
century.
Early amillenarians include Gaius, whose writings come from the third century, and
Clement of Alexandria, a teacher in the school at Alexandria, from 193 to 220. Clement’s
disciple Origen (185-254) and Dionysius (190-265) led the opposition to premillennialism in
the third century.
Amillenarians usually concede that the basic approach of the Alexandrian school was
to take Scripture, especially prophecy, in a nonliteral sense. They regarded the entire Bible
as one great allegory in which the real meaning is hidden behind the actual statements of
Scripture. They attempted to combine the idealism of Plato with Scripture which was only
possible if Scripture were interpreted in a nonliteral sense.
Amillenarians admit that the school at Alexandria was heretical inasmuch as they
challenged almost all the principal doctrines of the Christian faith. For instance, W. H.
Rutgers, an amillenarian, wrote the following concerning Clement of Alexandria.
Clement, engrossed and charmed by Greek philosophy, applied this erroneous,

allegorical method to Holy Writ. It was a one-sided emphasis: opposed to the real, the visible,
phenomenal, spacial and temporal. A platonic idealistic philosophy could not countenance
carnalistic, sensualistic conceptions of the future as that advanced by Chiliasm. It shook the
very foundation on which Chiliasm rested. Robertson observed that “it loosed its
[Chiliasm’s] sheet-anchor—naive literalism in the interpretation of Scripture.”
In spite of the fact that the major thrust of amillennialism in the second and third
centuries was provided by those who were heretics, Rutgers offers the questionable proof
52
that amillennialism was the prevailing view in the second century simply because many of
the church fathers never discussed the issue at all. On the basis of this, and without citing
those definitely committed to amillennialism, Rutgers states, “Chiliasm found no favor with
the best of the Apostolic Fathers, nor does it find support in the unknown writer of the Epistle
to Diognetus.”
While it is true that many early church fathers simply do not discuss the millennial
question, the fact that specific adherents to premillennialism can be cited makes the almost
complete silence of any advocates of amillennialism until A.D. 190 most significant. While
there is dispute as to whether Barnabas, an early church father, is amillennial or premillennial,
even those in the amillennial camp usually do not claim Barnabas. Up until A.D. 190, no
clear adherent to amillennialism can be found. This fact is in stark contrast to the fact that
many held to the premillennial point of view.
For this reason, most amillenarians trace their view to Augustine (354-430), the
famous bishop of Hippo in North Africa. Augustine was the father of amillennialism because
he discarded the allegorical system of interpretation of the Bible as a whole as advanced by
the school at Alexandria in favor of limiting allegorical interpretation to prophetic Scriptures
only. He held that other Scriptures should be interpreted in their natural, grammatical,
historical sense. With Augustine began general acceptance of the modern approach of
recognizing the basic and normal interpretation of Scripture as literal and grammatical (as
held by the Protestant Reformers such as Calvin and Luther) but at the same time holding
that prophecy is a special case requiring nonliteral interpretation. It is this difference with
premillennialism which is the basic problem in the continued discussion between
premillenarians and amillenarians.
The third broad view of prophetic interpretation is postmillennialism. It holds that

Christ will return at the end of the millennium. Postmillenarians hold that the “millennium,”
such as it is, must be fulfilled before the second coming of Christ, and in this, amillennialism
and postmillennialism agree. The difference between the two schools is the more optimistic
approach of postmillennialism which regards the gospel as being increasingly triumphant
until the world is at least Christianized, and this victory is climaxed by the second coming of
Christ and the immediate introduction to the eternal state. While some leaders throughout the
history of the church, such as Joachim of Floris, a twelfth-century Roman Catholic, held
views close to postmillennialism, most postmillenarians trace their view to Daniel Whitby
(1638-1725). While some amillenarians tend to emphasize the earlier postmillennialism, A.
H. Strong, a postmillenarian, states clearly, “Our own interpretation of Revelation 20:1-10,
was first given, for substance, by Whitby.”
Postmillennialism related to the optimism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

and coincided with the general hope of a better world. While largely discarded now, it was a
prevailing view among many conservative theologians in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries, of which Charles Hodge is an example.
53
The Needed Return to Basic Hermeneutics
For students of prophecy seeking to weigh the relative cogency of premillennialism,

amillennialism, and postmillennialism, the first requirement is a clear view of ordinary rules
of interpretation as normally advanced in hermeneutics. Adherents of all views of prophecy
tend at times to forget that basic rules for exegesis have been established in the history of the
church at least by conservative scholars, and one is not free to disregard them in favor of
establishing his own particular interpretation. Conservative scholars tend for the most part to
agree on these basic principles, which include the following:
1. Words are to be understood in their normal, natural sense unless there is firm evidence
in the context that the word is used in some other sense.
2. Each statement of Scripture should be interpreted in its context. This usually means
that a word should be interpreted in its immediate context, although sometimes usage
in other passages is also relevant. A common fallacy, however, is to read into a
passage something that is found elsewhere in the Bible instead of allowing the
immediate context to have primary weight.
3. A text of Scripture must always be seen in its historical and cultural contexts, and the
intended meaning of the author is important. Conservative scholars, however,
recognize that the Bible is not only a work by human authors, but is also inspired by
the Holy Spirit, and in some cases even the human author did not understand entirely
what he was writing.
4. Scripture should be interpreted in the light of grammatical considerations including
such important matters as tense and emphasis. Bethlehem, pinpointed in Micah 5:2
about seven hundred years before the birth of Christ. He was to be the seed of the
woman (Gen 3:15) who would have victory over Satan. His lineage is described in
the Old Testament as extending through Seth, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Judah,
and then through Boaz, Obed, Jesse, and David. All of this is pointed out in the
genealogies of the New Testament (cf. Matt 1:1-16: Luke 3:23-38). The Old
Testament abounds with prophetic details about Jesus as prophet, priest, and king
(Deut 18:15-18; 1 Sam 2:35: Ps 110:4: cf. Gen 49:10; 2 Sam 7:12-16; Zech 6:13; Heb
5:6). Isaiah 9:6-7 summarizes His birth, person, and deity. All these prophecies have
been literally fulfilled. Even His death on the cross is anticipated in Psalm 22 and
Isaiah 53, and His resurrection is predicted in Psalm 16:10. In all these cases the
prophetic Scriptures have been fulfilled historically in a literal way.
In view of these fulfilled prophecies it seems reasonable to conclude that yet unfulfilled
prophecies will have the same literal fulfillment, especially when they are couched in terms
that make sense literally.
In general, conservative expositors have agreed on the literal interpretation of Scripture

when it comes to broad doctrines such as the deity of Christ, the humanity of Christ, His life
on earth, His death, His resurrection, and His second coming. They agree that there is a literal
heaven and a literal hell. In discussion of prophetic interpretation. it soon becomes evident
that the crux of the matter is whether there is a future, literal millennial reign of Christ on
54
earth. It is here where conservative scholars differ, going in general in three directions:
premillennialism, amillennialism, or postmillennialism.
Further Definition of the Interpretive Problem
Although it is generally agreed that amillennialism sprang from the theology of

Augustine and that postmillennialism derived from it, it is quite clear in current discussion
that the problem is more than a general rule that prophecy should be interpreted in an
allegorical or nonliteral sense. As has been pointed out, as a matter of fact, both amillenarians
and postmillenarians often interpret prophecy in a very literal way. What, then, is the real
point of distinction?
The abundant literature in the field supports the concept that the major problem is the
doctrine of the millennium or a thousand-year reign of Christ. If the millennium precedes the
second coming of Christ as amillenarians and postmillenarians contend, it is also clear that
many of the precise predictions related to the millennium cannot be clearly fulfilled. The
present world is not under the political direction of Jesus Christ, and evil as such is not being
immediately judged by God as it will be in the millennial kingdom.
By contrast the premillennial view anticipates a second coming of Christ followed by His
thousand-year reign on earth. This is the historic interpretation held by the early church
fathers and which has continued in contemporary premillennialism.
Current discussion on the subject, however, has tended to blur some of these time-
honored distinctions. For instance, Arthur H. Lewis denies that he is amillennial but at the
same time he prefers not to be known as premillennial or postmillennial.7 Lewis holds that
the millennium must be before the second coming because there is sin in the millennium and
for him there can be no sin on earth after the second coming of Christ. His problem is in his
premise that the millennial kingdom is perfect. This, of course, is contradicted by many Old
Testament passages which he ignores.
Others have followed the lead of Lewis by claiming to be historic premillennialists and
then proceeding to describe the millennium as something which precedes the second coming
of Christ. Often the problem arises because they are forced in their denominations or schools
to agree to a premillennial statement.
Gilbert Bilezikian, professor of biblical studies at Wheaton College, is typical of those

who blur the distinctions on the doctrine of the millennium. While affirming agreement with
the premillennial position of Wheaton College, he nevertheless adopts what is normally
called amillennialism. He writes, “Peter, reading about God’s oath to David to set one of his
descendants upon his throne (Psalm 132:11), interpreted the promised messianic rule as
having been fulfilled in the resurrection of Christ and his exaltation in heaven (Acts 2:30-
31).”8 This view is obviously not historical premillennialism, for it allows for no literal
thousand-year reign of Christ after His second coming. This he makes clear later in the same
article, when he states that “the essential features accompanying the second coming of
Christ” are “the general resurrection, the universal judgment, and the inauguration of the
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reunion of the redeemed in eternity.”9 He further adds insult to injury by accusing those who
differ with him as being guilty of “shoddy exegesis consisting of facile scissors-and-paste
patchworks of fragments of biblical texts,” which he claims is motivated by their desire to
reap monetary gain.10 He discards the testimony of a millennial reign in Revelation 20
because it is found in one of “relatively unclear passages where figurative and symbolic
motifs are present (such as the thousand years’ rule of Revelation 20).”
What can be said of this type of “premillennial” interpretation? Actually, this approach
brings confusion rather than clarity to the subject. Any system that says the millennium is
fulfilled before the second advent and also teaches that the eternal state begins at the second
advent cannot accurately be labeled premillennialism. It would be far better for a scholarly
discussion of the problem to accept the time-honored terms rather than attempt to redefine
prophetic interpretation in a way that does not correspond to the historic handling of the
problem.
It is clear that the major problem in the interpretation of prophecy is the doctrine of the
millennium. Along with this is the corresponding difficulty of whether many Old Testament
prophecies relating to Israel will be fulfilled before or after the second coming of Christ. The
doctrine of a future millennium following Christ’s second advent is inevitably related to the
question as to whether promises given to Israel will have a literal fulfillment. Accordingly,
in other articles in this series special attention will be addressed to these issues which have
been characteristic of the discussion for many generations but which have also been evident
in recent literature.
Source: https://bible.org/seriespage/1-basic-considerations-interpreting-prophecy
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THE INTERPRETATION OF BIBLICAL PROPHECY
(Oral E. Collins, Ph.D)
"Blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written . . ." (Rev. 1:3; cp. Luke.
11:28, John 12:47). The verb "to hear" in this context means "to be informed," and implies
understanding. The crucial question for the earnest Christian reader of the book of Revelation
is the question of hermeneutics—How do I hear? By what approach and by what interpretive
methods do I arrive at a useful understanding of such a strange and complex book? How can
I chart my course among the multifari-ous interpretations offered for each aspect of the
pro-phecy? The serious student will want to study the bib-lical text and develop his personal
understanding with some assurance. To do this, it is absolutely necessary to know and to
apply sound principles of biblical interpretation.
The difference between general hermeneutics, which apply to any literature ancient
or modern, and biblical hermeneutics is not fundamentally a difference in principle. The
same gen-eral laws of language and communication apply to both. Similarly, the difference
between the interpretation of biblical prophecy and the interpretation of other parts of
Scripture is not a fundamental difference in principle. But prophecy is as different from
histor-ical narration or from epis-tolary style as poetry is from prose. Moreover, apo-calyptic
is a still more specialized literary mold. The peculiar difficulties of prophetic interpretation
in-volve (1) an acquaintance with the common thought forms and structures of the ancient
pro-phetic and apocalyptic li-teratures as distinctive li-terary types, (2) an understanding of
the manner in which the original reader would have read such literature, and (3) an
ac-quaintance with the special-ized vocabulary, especially the symbols, in which prophecy
is expres-sed.
General Hermeneutics
Many serious errors in prophetic interpretation arise out of lack of regard for general
principles. These principles are inher-ent in language communica-tion and are generally
agreed upon by those who are considered authorities on hermeneutics. They may be
summarized as follows:
1. Ordinarily, no one text may have more than one meaning. This principle is essential
to the integrity of language as communication. The legitimate excep-tion to this rule
arises when there is evidence in the context that the author makes a play upon a word
having more than one meaning (see John 3:3, “again”/“from above”).
2. The meaning of a text should be that which is most natural from the standpoint of the
historical and cultu-ral background, including the linguistic and cultural orientations
of both the author and the original, ancient rea-der.
3. The meaning of a text should be that which most naturally harmonizes with its
context—what precedes and what follows.
4. A text should be inter-preted with due respect for the literary structure and style of
the larger passage of which it is a part.
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5. The sense derived from a text should be that which results from a proper and full
grammatical explanation of the language.
6. Words should be understood according to their various meanings as established and
known through customary usage. This prin-ciple applies whether words are used
literally or figur-atively. In the latter cir-cumstance, the figure should be either
intrinsically ob-vious or else commonly known through usage. The literal meaning
of a word is its primary or ordinary sense, as viewed in its context. An extension of
rule six is the principle that the literal is to be assumed unless there is indication in
the passage that figurative usage is involved. Any text can quickly be reduced to
nonsense if arbitrary word meanings are introduced.
7. Only those inferences which may be drawn from a text which are necessarily implied
may be taken as having the full authority of Scripture. An unnecessary inference
requires confirmation from another text the meaning of which is clear.
Biblical Hermeneutics
Biblical hermeneutics is complicated by the fact that the Bible contains six-ty-six
books written in three languages by many authors over a span of fif-teen hundred years. The
linguistic and cultural background as well as some understanding of the history of the period
is pre-requisite to thorough study and exegesis of a biblical text. Although it may of-ten
prove helpful "to compare Scripture with Scrip-ture," where questions of interpretation are
involved, this should be done with awareness of the relation-ships between the meaning of
words and the context and background of each particular text. It should not be assumed, for
example, that the original readers of the Epistle of James (ca. A.D. 45-50) had access to the
Epistle to the Romans (A.D. 57-58) for clarification.
Our approach to bib-lical hermeneutics assumes a supernatural view of the Bible as

holy Scripture—the divinely inspired and therefore true Word of God. This presupposition
of bib-lical hermeneutics is de-rived principally from the teachings of Jesus (Matt. 5:17, 18,
John 10:35, et al.). It is, as we should expect, reiterated by the Apostles (2 Tim. 3:16, 2 Pet.
1:21). Rule one below results directly from this approach. Rules two to four also follow
from this Judeo-Christian concept of Scripture as Revelation.
1. A correct interpretation of any text will not stand in essential contradiction to any
other statement of Scripture.
2. A doctrine which appears in Scripture unambiguously only once has equal authority
to those which are frequently stated, being equally the Word of God, and may not
therefore be altered by comparison with other texts.
3. Since God has revealed his Word progressively in history, we may expect that later
texts may clarify or supplement those which are earlier.
4. No later text should be understood as contradicting earlier texts.
5. The illumination of the Holy Spirit, by means of which the Word of God is re-ceived,
should not be understood as controverting the mental processes (thereby avoiding in
a mys-tical fashion the general principles above), but rather as a quickening or
renewing of those faculties, so that they may function as free from the normal
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presuppositions, prejudices, and other encum-brances of sinful human nature (Rom.
12:2).
The Hermeneutics of Predictive Prophecy
The interpretation of prophecy is involved espe-cially with prediction of events which

were future from the standpoint of the original composition. Such predictions may have been
fulfilled at some time now past or they may still await fulfillment. Although the general
meaning of unfulfilled prophecies may be determined from the text, the full meaning may
not be evident until the event predicted has actually occurred. It may be presupposed that
the actual fulfillment of the prophecy in history will of-fer a correct alternative to previous
misinterpretations. For this reason, it is to be assumed that the process of interpretation of
historical prophecies is necessarily dynamic and progressive, ev-ery generation being
respon-sible to study the prophe-cies and to discern the signs of its own times (Matt. 16:3).1
Several principles for the study of prophecy re-quire particular consideration:
1. It is necessary first to reiterate a fundamental gen-eral rule of interpretation. Prophecy

must be al-lowed its ordinary, or com-mon sense meaning. William LaSor states:
“The literal interpretation of a prophecy is the only basis of objectivity. Without it,
any in-terpreter, with his own system, can make any prophecy mean anything.”2 A
lit-eral interpretation in so far as possible accepts common figures of speech and
symbols according to the manner in which they were likely to have been known and
understood in the days of the writer. To the extent that certain prophe-cies may have
been inten-tionally veiled, it is rea-sonable to suppose that they may have been
intentionally veiled to the original reader, but intended to be understood at some
future time when in the Divine providence the prophecy is unveiled.
2. It is necessary to dis-tinguish between conditional and unconditional prophecy. A
conditional prophecy, if the condition is never met, will not be fulfilled. An example
of such is Moses’ promise to Israel of God's blessings upon the nation pending her
obedience (Lev. 26:3-13). To determine whether a prophecy is con-ditional, we are
dependent upon the language of the text. For example, Zech. 14:4, which states in
terms unqualified either by text or context, that one day the Lord shall stand upon the
Mount of Olives cannot rightly be discarded as a conditional prophecy as some have
done (see Ezek 36:22ff.).2
3. It is necessary to dis-cover and give attention to biblical interpretations of biblical
prophecies. These must give direction to any related prophetic exegesis. Some
interpretations are explicit, as Daniel’s interpretation of Nebuchadnezzor’s dreams
(Daniel 2, 4), or Jesus’ interpretation of Isaiah 61 (Luke 4:18-21). Others con-sist
only of allusive refer-ences which must be searched out, such as Daniel's quo-ting of
Deuteronomy 32:34 (9:24) or Jesus' allusion to the “days of vengeance” of
Deuteronomy 32:35 (LXX; Lu. 21:22).
4. It is necessary to study prophecy systematically throughout the Scriptures. Prophecy
is interwoven with redemptive history and therefore is largely pro-gressive and
developmental by nature. As Cachemaille well states, "We must begin at the
beginning, and work onwards; not at the ends to work backwards.”3 The great
prophecies of Moses in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28 are fundamental to an
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un-derstanding of Daniel 9 or Matthew 24. Parallel pro-phecies must be searched out
and compared, as for example, those of Ezekiel 36-48 and Zechariah 9-14.
5. It is necessary to distinguish between the message of the prophet and the fulfillment.
As a matter of procedure, the mean-ing of the prophetic text should be determined
first. Only after this should the question of fulfillment considered. It is true, however,
that exegetical considerations which remain obscure or ambiguous may be clarified
im-mediately when the broad outlines of the particular prophecy are recognized as
fulfilled. Nevertheless, the inter-preter must resist the temptation to wrongly identify
the prophecy with a particular fulfillment in order to accommodate it to a parti-cular
historical event or to a particular prophetic system.
6. It is necessary to re-cognize the first complete fulfillment of a prophecy as the true
fulfillment. Some prophecies are telescopic with the result that fulfillment will occur
partly at one time and partly at
7. another. An example of this is Joel 2-3, a partial fulfillment of which occurred at
Pentecost (Acts 2:16-21). This is commonly called “double fulfillment,” a term
which wrongly suggests double meaning. The integrity of prophecy may be at stake
in the question of first fulfillment. See for example John the Baptist’s question of
Jesus, "Are you he who is to come, or shall we look for another?" Jesus’ reply was
to point up the fact that He was indeed doing the works predicted of Messianic times
(see Isa 35:5, 6, 61:1; Matt 11:4).
The question of fulfillment presupposes that the student of prophecy must also be a
student of history. One cannot discover the fulfillment of Daniel 11 without learning in some
de-tail about the wars between the Seleucids and the Ptolemies in the third and second
centuries, B.C., and neither can he know which prophecies of the Apocalypse have been
fulfilled without a study of the history of the church from the days of the Apostle John. “The
true Church of Christ has a perpetual interest in all the events of history; and if patiently and
reverently followed, no study will more richly repay the devout disciple with spiritual profit
and de-light" (Cachemaille, p. 11).
The Special Hermeneutics of Apocalyptic Prophecy
1. It is necessary to iden-tify the literary type. The visions of Daniel and the vision of
Revelation, for example, are expressions of the apocalyptic dream-vision format. (An
early biblical model in some res-pects analogous is Joseph’s dream in Gen. 37:9-101.
Several of Daniel’s visions, where the form is more extended, carry their own
in-terpretations. In the classic dream-vi-sion genre, future events are often por-trayed
as if experienced in symbolic representation, consecutively one after the other. These
represent the pro-gress of history from the time of the prophet (or from some other
indicated time) and extend into the future, usually to the end time. (See in addition
to Daniel and Revelation the extra-biblical IV Enoch 83-90; 93, 91:12-17; II Baruch
36-41; 53-74; IV Esdras 11-12.)
2. It is necessary to recognize that the apocalyptic prophecies in God’s Word are real
prophecies, concerned with real temporal, mundane future events which from the
author's standpoint are subject to future fulfillment. They are not to be understood
merely as a “philosophy of history”; that is, a disclosure of principles which govern
60
future events. This follows from the manner in which the visions of Daniel are
interpreted, as well as from what is stated in the book of Revelation (Rev. 1:1, 4:1).
3. It is necessary to re-cognize the characteristic concern of apocalyptic with the dualism
of two world kingdoms, the rule of God and the rule of Satan, Christ and Antichrist.
Thus we are normally and legitimately involved with such mundane matters as the
course of nations, world politics and human warfare (see, e.g., Daniel 11).
4. It is necessary to dis-tinguish between prophecies delivered primarily to Israel as the
covenant nation (Daniel) and those delivered to the Church (Revelation), but at the
same time to recognize that the Gentile church is now "grafted in," that is, included
within the cove-nant framework and prophetic purview of Israel.
5. It is necessary to cope with the dramatic symbolism of apocalyptic literature. Most
of the symbols were derived from the com-monly known and understood language of
the ancient Ori-ent. It has been learned recently from Vulgarity lit-erature that the
seven-headed hydra or sea dragon is found in Canaanite mythology. Others no doubt
were origin-ally Babylonian or Persian. Some were astrological (as the sun, moon,
and stars of Joseph's dream), others heraldic (the four beasts of Daniel 7). Greek
mythology had similar com-posite monsters, such as the sphinx (a lion-like creature
with wings and human head), the Chimera (a fire-breathing monster with a lion's
head, a goat's body, and the tail of a snake), or the Minotaur (half-bull and half-
human). All were enemies of mankind. Numbers may be used as sym-bols, as for
example, the number 666 (Rev. 13:18), where each figure has alpha-betic value, or
the "70 weeks" of Daniel 9, where the 70 "sevens" is traditionally understood to mean
490 years.
Only a very naive approach to Daniel or to Revelation would attempt to take the symbols
with concrete literalism. Interpre-ters have little trouble with the beasts, but sometimes slip
into hyper-literalism with more comfortable imagery, like the rider on the white horse in
Reve-lation 19 or the falling of the stars in Revelation 6. A study of the interpreted visions
of Daniel is help-ful for developing our hermeneutic for Revelation.
The Year-Day Principle for the Interpretation of Numerical Prophecies
One of the more contro-versial principles of pro-phetic interpretation is the “year-

day” principle. This is the principle whereby chronological designations such as “day,”
“week,” or “month” are understood to be used symbolically. This interpretation presupposes
that “day” or its derivative multiples used as symbols means “year” or corresponding
multiples of years, so that one “day” means one year, one “week” means seven years, and so
forth. The year-day princi-ple is explicitly indicated in several old Testament texts (cited
below), and is commonly applied to the “seventy weeks” prophecy of Daniel 9, but is often
rejected in the interpretation of the Apocalypse. The following evidence strongly supports a
more general respect for the “year-day” principle than is often allowed.
1. The principle has the support of the nearly unani-mous voice of Protestant
interpretation, especially with regard to the “70 weeks” of Daniel 9, from the
Apos-tolic Church through the nineteenth century. The current skepticism is
characteristic of the antisupernaturalistic attitude of our time. The nega-tive attitude
61
of some con-servatives appears to re-sult both from a somewhat simplistic and
generalizing approach to prophetic study and the tendency of some nineteenth-
century historicists to project dates for the return of Christ.
2. The symbolic character of the Apocalyptic vision favors a symbolic approach to the
numerical chron-ologies which they contain. Note also that the year-day formula is
an appropriate mask for the long periods of time involved. The 1000 years of
Revelation twenty may be literal since it occurs after the second advent of Christ
and therefore need not be veiled.
3. The principle of counting years for days is clearly established in non-apocalyptic
portions of the Old Testament. This provides a reasonable source for understanding
the numerical symbolism in the biblical apocalyptic. The relevant texts are Num
14:34, "According to the number of days which you spied out the land, forty days,
for every day you shall bear your guilt a year, even forty years, and you shall know
My opposition," and Ezek 4:4-5, in which Ezekiel was to lie on his left side 390
days for the Israel's punishment and on his right side 40 days for the punishment of
Judah, "for I have assigned you a number of days corresponding to the years of their
iniquity" (NASB; emphasis mine). The obvious fulfillment of the Mosaic prophecy
was the forty years of Israel's wandering in the wilderness. The rationale for the
Ezekiel prophecy is less than clear, but the principle of a year for each day is
unambiguously spelled out.4 Note that in both of the above instances the year-day
formula is used in predictions of judgments against the covenant nation of Israel.
4. The principle is used in the “70 weeks” prophecy of Daniel with regard to the
appearance of the Messiah. This, though not explicitly interpreted in the prophecy
("seventy sevens") is accepted as standard usage (Hebrew shab‘uim = “heptad or
seven [weeks] of years ”).5 The 490 year period thus extends from 458 B.C.-A.D.
33, B.C. 1 & A.D. 1, being the same year.
In all occurrences of the year-day symbolism, a period of judgment is pre-dicted,

suggesting that Num 14:34 is the proto-type for subsequent usage. In using the year-day
principle it is important to distinguish between in-terpretation and applica-tion.
Interpretation is concerned with the "year" as a symbol in the text and utilizes a 360-day year.
Application applies the meaning of the text to history and involves real, 365¼-day years.
We have now concluded our brief summary of prin-ciples for the interpre-tation of
biblical prophecy, in which we first introduced as presuppositional some guidelines for
general her-meneutics, then offered special rules for inter-preting prophecy, followed by
some of the more specialized requirements of apocalyptic literature. The thought-ful student
of biblical pro-phecy will raise other ques-tions requiring further in-depth study of
interpretive method. In no other aspect of biblical study will one’s method more largely
predetermine the re-sults of one’s quest for biblical truth.
Source: http://www.historicism.com/Collins/interp.htm
62
The Kingdom the Prophets Saw
THE KINGDOM
THE PROPHETS
SAW
63
DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined
1. Premillennialism teaches that the establishment of an enduring and faithful kingdom
in Israel lies in a future work of God’s redemption.
2. According to John F McArthur when Jesus said: “My kingdom is not of this world”
He meant that the establishment of Christ kingdom will not be characterized by the
ungodly machinations of this evil world system (John 18:36) [McArthur].
3. Therefore, according to premillennialism the kingdom that the prophets saw, has yet
future fulfillment.
Doctrine Defeated
1. Most of the time the word kingdom is used in the New Testament, it is used
synonymously with the word church.
a. The church of Christ and the kingdom of heaven are used synonymously and
interchangeably in Matthew 18:16-19.
b. The “seed is the word” of God (Luke 8:11), is also described as “the word of
the kingdom” (Matthew 15:19) and everywhere that the seed is planted, the
establishment of the church resulted.
2. According to Isaiah the kingdom was to be established in the Last Days (Isa. 2:1-2;
Joel 2.28).
3. Peter quoted Joel’s prophecy as being fulfilled on that very day (Acts 2:16-17).
4. Therefore, the last days and the establishment of the kingdom began on the day of
Pentecost (Hebrews 1:2).
5. Daniel (2:44) also said that the kingdom will be established “in the days of these
kings” (the roman kings), which is in agreement with Joel and Isaiah.
6. However, even though premillennialist agrees that is the kingdom of Rome, they say
that the Roman Empire will be restore in the future and then the kingdom will be
established.
7. The latter statement makes no sense with the progression of Daniel’s prophecy.
8. This is only another dishonest attempt to sustain a doctrine which unsustainable.
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True
TRUE
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ISAIAH 2 AND DANIEL 2 – THE COMING KINGDOM/CHURCH
(Mike McDaniel)
This writer extends his deepest appreciation to the elders of the Getwell church of
Christ and her esteemed evangelist, Jim Laws, for the invitation to speak on the Twenty-
Fourth Annual Spiritual Sword Lectureship. It is a joy and delight for me to be associated
with this congregation. What a tremendous work they do for the cause of Christ not only
locally, but nationwide, yea throughout the world through the influence of The Spiritual
Sword periodical and The Spiritual Sword Lectureship. As we approach the new millennium,
what a timely series of Bible studies this book should prove to be.
The topic assigned is simply splendid. As we approach the year two thousand, the
heart of every Christian ought to be overflowing with gratitude unto God for the kingdom or
church of which we are privileged to be a part. Oh, how we ought to love thy church, 0 God!
It ought to be dear as the apple of our eye. Truly it is in the eyes of God. That idea is seen in
the prophecies of old. Isaiah and Daniel prophesied of the coming kingdom/church. God was
looking forward to that time when it would come and be established. Brother Franklin Camp
'used to say,” When man sinned in Eden God headed for Pentecost on the day of Pentecost
that which the prophets had foretold, that which had been planned and purposed in the mind
of God,” became a blessed reality. The cross and the church are inseparably linked. The blood
of the cross purchased the church (Acts 20:28). The King and His Kingdom are inseparably
linked. What is a king without a kingdom? Christ has been made King of kings and Lord of
lords, and you and l as Christians are privileged to be citizens in His kingdom.
Let us study for our enjoyment and spiritual benefit Isaiah 2 and Daniel 2 The Coming
Kingdom/ Church. Our study is outlined as follows: (1) The Concept of the
Kingdom/Church, (2) The Characteristics of the Kingdom/Church, (3) The Coming of the
Kingdom/Church, and (4) The Continuation of the Kingdom/Church.
(1) The Concept of The Kingdom/Church
Premillennialists believe that the kingdom is yet future and that the church was
instituted as a contingency because of the rejection of Christ by the Jews until such time as
the kingdom will be set up by the Lord at the second coming of Christ. This is false. The
kingdom of Christ has come. It came when the church came. Most of the time the word
kingdom is used in the New Testament, it is used synonymously with the word church. Let
us notice some examples. In Caesarea Philippi, Jesus said in Matthew 16:18-19.
And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the keys of
the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in
heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
The church of Christ and the kingdom of heaven are used synonymously and
interchangeably in these verses. Jesus promised to build His church and to give Peter and
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also the rest of the apostles (Matt. 18:18) the keys or terms of admission into the kingdom. If
the church and the kingdom are not the same, Peter and the other apostles would have had
no right to use the keys of the kingdom on the church. If the kingdom has not yet been
established, as some falsely teach, Peter and the other apostles never had the privilege of
using the keys. Why, then, should they have been given to them? But the church or kingdom
was established on the first Pentecost following the resurrection. On that day the keys were
used, and about three thousand persons were added to the church of Christ (Acts 2:47).
In the parable of the sower Jesus spoke of the seed being the word of God (Luke 8:11).
Yet in Matthew 15:19 it is called” word of the kingdom.” The word of God is the seed of the
kingdom, and everywhere that seed was planted, the establishment of the church resulted.
Hence, one seed produced the church or kingdom. The seed of the kingdom produced
members of the church as well as citizens of the kingdom. If the church and the kingdom are
not the same, then we have one seed producing two different kinds of plants. This is contrary
to both nature and revelation.
Further, in Luke 22:29-50 Jesus said the Lord’s Supper would be in the kingdom. Yet,
1 Corinthians l 1:23-50 shows it to be in the church. The Corinthians had the Lord’s Supper.
Therefore, they were in the kingdom.
Finally, the church at Colossae was told in Colossians 1:15 that God hath delivered
us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his clear Son.
They were in the church and also in the kingdom at the same time. The church is the
kingdom of God on earth today.
(2) The Characteristics of The Kingdom/Church
Approximately seven centuries prior to the birth of Christ, Isaiah was inspired to
write:
The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it
shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be
established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all
nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go
up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach
us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations,
and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and
their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more (Isa. 2:1-4).
Notice the following characteristics of the coming kingdom/church as described by

the prophet Isaiah. First, it was to be established in the Last Days (Isa. 2:1-2). This phrase
depicts the final dispensation of time, the Christian age Joel prophesied of the coming of the
Holy Spirit in the last days (Joel 2:28). On Pentecost, Peter quoted Joel’s prophecy as being
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fulfilled on that very day (Acts 2:16-17). Obviously, on the day of Pentecost,” the last days”
had begun (cf. Heb. 1:2).
Second, it was to be established as the Lord’s House (Isa. 2:2). The word” mountain”
can denote government (Psm. 76:4; Isa. 11:9; Jer. 51:25; Dan. 2:55). Thus, God’s house was
to be exalted above the governments of the world (cf. Dan. 2:44).3 God’s house in the New
Testament is seen to be the kingdom/church. Paul reminded Timothy of the proper behavior
expected of one who is in” the house of God, which is the church of the living God" (I Tim.
5:15). Christians are of the household of God (Eph. 2:19; cf. I Peter 2:5).
Third, it was to be established for all heavy-laden souls (Isa. 2:2-5). All nations would
flow into it. In contrast with the old law which was given to the Jews to make of them a
peculiar people, the gospel would be for all so that any nationality might choose to become
one of the peculiar people of God (Titus. 2:14; I Peter 2:9). The great commission of Christ
would later charge us to preach the gospel to all nations (Matt. 28:19; Mark 16:15). The
word” flow” as used by Isaiah may even foretell of the receptivity that the gospel would have
among the Gentiles. “Jesus invited all that are heavy laden to come to Him for rest (Matt.
11:28), and people of all nations continue to come to Jesus and His kingdom/church just as
Isaiah prophesied.
Fourth, it was to be established through means of the Law of God (Isa. 2:5). Isaiah
spoke of a law which would go forth from Jerusalem. The Law of Moses began to be
delivered from Mount Sinai, but this one, the law of Christ, would come from Mount Zion
and Jerusalem. As Bill Jackson said:
Here is one of the clearest of contrasts: The Old Testament law came from Sinai, but
the New came from Jerusalem. These are not the same mountains, of course, and
therefore these are not the same laws. The one ended (Col. 2:14) as Christ paid the
price wherein the latter could come into existence.
Just as Isaiah prophesied, the law or word of the Lord went forth from Jerusalem in
Acts 2 (cf. Luke 24:47) as the gospel was first preached, resulting in the establishment of the
kingdom/church (Acts 2: I447). The King was reigning on His throne (Acts 2:55) over His
subjects and by His law, the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2). Those who do not like to conceive of
the gospel as a law to be obeyed need to reflect upon this description of Isaiah. He calls it”
the law.” He says that many of their own initiative would desire to know it. They would not
need some direct operation of the Holy Spirit upon the naked heart of man to rid their souls
of depravity that they might then be able to hear, believe, and obey the law of God. You will
not find the prophets of old predicting anything of that sort in regard to entering the coming
kingdom/ church. Rather, what Isaiah predicted here and what Micah predicted in the nearly
identical passage of Micah 4:1-2, would coincide perfectly with the New Testament concept
that ”whosoever will” may come (Rev. 22:17). Isaiah said that men would be taught of the
Messiah’s way that they might walk in His paths. Correct teaching would precede
conversation to Christ and the correct conduct to follow. Jesus said in John 6:45,
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it is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore
that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.
How tragic it is that many will not come to Jesus that they might have life (John 5:40). Those
who are willing to come to Jesus and be Christians must be taught. As Wayne Jackson has
said:
The Christian way is a taught and learned religion, and those who are not willing to
invest the time and energy to investigate the claims of this divine system will not be
able to access the spiritual blessings provided by God.
We cannot be taught and render obedience to the thoughts and ideas of man and hope to gain
access to the house of God. We cannot be taught incorrectly on the purpose of baptism and,
believing that error, be scripturally baptized in the sight of God. It takes the teaching of God
by the law of God and obedience to the same to enter the house of God and to enjoy the
blessings provided therein. As a Christian, we will walk in the Lord’s paths and not according
to our own desires (Jude 21:25, Jer. 10:25).
His paths are paths of peace. Isaiah described the character of that kingdom/church to
which we are come (Heb. 12:1829). The law of Christ determined the nature of the kingdom.
The gospel of peace (Eph. 6: 15) would bring peace to all former enemies who obeyed it.
They would then become peacemakers (Matt. 5:9). The Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6) came and
preached peace (Eph. 2:17). Paul said,
For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy
in the Holy Ghost (Rom. 14:17).
Isaiah symbolically described these ways of peace as a time when swords would be
turned into plowshares, and spears into pruning-hooks.
Thus, we see that the concept of the kingdom/ church was conceptualized in the mind
of God. It was part of His eternal purpose (Eph. 5:10-11). This concept was not just a”
contingency plan” with little or no thought given to its details. 'Dispensational
premillennialists argue that the church came into being as” an afterthought of God” a sort of
interim measure until the kingdom could be brought into existence. They believe that Jesus
would not set up His kingdom because of the Jews’ rejection of Him and that the church was
established in its place to "make do” until the kingdom of Christ could be set up. This horrible
doctrine is a slap in the face of our omniscient, omnipotent, sovereign God!7 God knew all
about the kingdom/church in the days of Isaiah.
Isaiah was inspired to give the characteristics of the kingdom/ church. lt would be
established in the last days. It would be established as the Lord’s House. It would be
established for all heavy-laden souls. And, it would be established through means of the Law
of God. Not only did God envision the concept of the church, He envisioned all of its
characteristics. This was no afterthought. This was foreknown by God and foretold by the
prophets of old.
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(3) The Coming of The Kingdom/Church
The prophet Daniel foretold of the coming of the kingdom/church. Daniel was one of
the Hebrews who had been taken into Babylon in the first deportation (606 B.C.). In the
second chapter that bears his name, Daniel was petitioned to reveal a dream and its
interpretation to king Nebuchadnezzar. As Christians today, you and l are part of that
everlasting, indestructible kingdom which was symbolically seen in king Nebuchadnezzar’s
dream.
in Daniel 2, we first see Nebuchadnezzar’s Demand (Dan. 2:1-6, cf. 27). King
Nebuchadnezzar had dreams that troubled him. it may be that the same dream was recurring.
We are told that Nebuchadnezzar could not remember the dream. The king kept a group of
wise men in his court who professed to have the ability to give the true meaning of dreams.
The king demanded that they reveal to him the dream and the interpretation. The death
penalty would be imposed if they did not comply with the king’s demand. Great rewards
would be given if they could meet his demand.
Second, we see Nebuchadnezzar’s Decree (Dan. 2:7-15; cf. v. 9). The king’s servants
realized that only one” whose dwelling is not flesh” could do that which the king had
demanded that his wise men do. They realized then what many refuse to realize now. Current
obsessions with astrology, seances, tarot cards, palm readings, and the like reveal how devoid
our society is of the knowledge and power of the one true God and how deceived people can
be. The king was furious at their response. He realized that their claims to special powers
were but” lying and corrupt words” (v. 9). It was Nebuchadnezzar's decree that all the wise
men of Babylon be killed. This would include Daniel, Hananiah, Mischael, and Azariah.
Third, we see Daniel’s Desire (Dan. 2:14-18). Daniels’ desire is demonstrated in two
ways. There was his desire of the king. After having discussed the nature of
Nebuchadnezzar’s decree with Arioch, the captain of the king’s guard, Daniel then
approached the king with his desire to arrange a time whereby he would reveal to the king
his dream and its interpretation (v. 16). Rex Turner, Sr. wrote,” How, Daniel demonstrated a
strong faith in, and fellowship with, his God when he sent forth his request to the king. After
all, Daniel was a mere man! What if his God failed to respond?”8 Daniel’s desire of God is
then set forth. He and his Hebrew friends desired” the mercies of the God of heaven
concerning this secret.”
Fourth, we see Daniel's Dependence (Dan. 2: 1925). Daniel depended on God and
had prayed earnestly unto Him. Then God revealed the secret of the vision to Daniel by means
of a vision in the night. David praised God with great gratitude and thanksgiving. God's
revelation to Daniel would be the means by which their lives would be saved. in the trying
times of life, we need to emulate the tremendous faith of Daniel. We must depend upon our
God. We can know that He knows” what is in the darkness” (v. 22). Oscar Hammerstein had
seen a picture, a photograph of the top of the Statue of Liberty from a helicopter. And he
said, ”This picture reveals the intricate detail that has been sculpted on Lady Liberty’s head,
her hair, and her crown and all of those things at that angle which no one could ever see,”
and he said, ”I got to thinking that sculptor must have realized that never will anyone see the
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top of the Statue of Liberty’s head, since there were no airplanes or helicopters when the
statue was set in place. But he spent the same kind of detail and care and painstaking
craftsmanship on the top of Lady Liberty’s head as he did down at the feet and everywhere
else that would be seen by everyone.” Little did he know that someone could see it from
above someday! That’s the way it is with our lives. Someone is looking down from above
carefully noting our lives (Heb. 4:15). Jesus said in Matthew 6:8,
Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need
of, before ye ask him.
Oh, how we need to depend on God as Daniel did!
Fifth, we see Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream (Dan. 2:24-55). When Daniel went in to the
king, he made it perfectly clear that it was God who had made these things known unto him.
The dream revealed a great image with a head of fine gold, breast and arms of silver, belly
and thighs of brass, and legs of iron with clay mixed with the iron in the feet. This was
followed by a stone that was cut without hands which smote the image and broke it in pieces,
and the stone became a great mountain which filled the whole earth.
Sixth, we see God's Definition (Dan. 2:56-45). Daniel declared to the king God’s
definition of the dream. The image represented four great world empires. Each empire would
make distinct contributions in preparation of the coming of Christ and His kingdom/church
in the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4). Since Nebuchadnezzar is identified as the head of fine gold,
the first empire is the Babylonian Empire. The major contribution of the Babylonian Empire
was the Jewish Synagogue. The breast and arms of silver represent the second great world
empire, the Medo Persian empire. The chief contribution of this world empire is its
commitment to law and order. The belly of brass represents the Grecian empire. The chief
contribution of this world empire was the Koine Greek language. The legs of iron and feet
part of iron and part of clay represent the Roman Empire. The chief contributions of the
Roman empire were good roads providing great freedom of travel and communication and a
high standard of Roman citizenship. All of these factors would aid the spread of the gospel
when the kingdom/church came into existence.9 The Roman empire is given the most
attention by Daniel. It was to be a strong kingdom, but also a divided kingdom. There was
internal division in the Roman government along with many slaves taken during Roman
conquests that would not be loyal to Rome. Then Daniel makes this important prophetic
statement.
And in the days of these kings [the Roman kings] shall the God of heaven set up a
kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other
people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand
for ever (Dan. 2:44).
It would be while the kings of this fourth great kingdom or empire, the Roman
Empire, were ruling that God would set up His eternal kingdom. Many Premillennialists
agree that the fourth kingdom refers to Rome. They agree that the Roman Empire has ended.
Yet, they say that Rome will be restored soon so that this prophecy may be fulfilled. They
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apply the ten toes of the image to this revival of the Roman empire. Brother Curtis Cates has
aptly written,
Question: Where does Daniel even hint at an application of the ten toes? He does not!
It is simply a way of delaying Christ’s reign to fit their humanly-devised scheme. So,
what are the premillennialists doing? They arbitrarily stretch out the legs of the
colossal image for some 2,000 years. Never mind that the church was in God’s eternal
purpose not an afterthought (Eph. 5:10-11)! Never mind that God had vowed to David
that he would not even alter His promise concerning David’s descendant (Christ)
reigning on his throne (Psm. 89:2-4, 27-29, 55-37, cf. II Sam. 7:12-15)! Never mind
that the rejection by the Jews, the suffering of Christ, and His death were prophesied
countless times in the Old Testament (Psm. 2; Isa. 55; et al.)! What do these plain
scriptures do to the postponement theory, dear reader? No wonder Daniel does not
indicate this image to be the monstrosity the premillennialists make it, with legs four
times as long as normal. The Lord’s church was no more parenthesis or mystery; it
was and is the kingdom itself, not an afterthought as to catch God by surprise. Such
an averment is absurd!
Daniel’s prophecy had to do with the establishment of the kingdom of God, the church
of Jesus Christ, the fulfillment of which is recorded in the book of Acts. Within Daniel 2:44
there are a number of remarkable truths regarding this coming kingdom/church. First, the
phrase” in the days of these kings” reveals that the kingdom would be first century in its
establishment. When the Roman kings were ruling, John the Baptist made the announcement
unto the multitude that” the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 5:2). ln Mark 9:1 Jesus
said,
Verily I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste
of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
The kingdom came when the power came. The power came when the Holy Spirit
came (Acts 1:8). The Holy Spirit came when the day of Pentecost came (Acts 2:1). Therefore,
the conclusion is irresistible that the kingdom came in Acts 2, in the lifetime of those to whom
Jesus spoke in Mark 9:1, and during the days of the Roman kings (Dan. 2:44). To say that
the Kingdom of Christ has not yet been established is to make a liar out of our Lord. Did not
Jesus say that some standing before Him would not die until they saw the kingdom come?
Our Lord spoke truthfully. The kingdom was first century in its establishment. Second, the
phrase” shall the God of heaven set up” reveals that the kingdom would be divine in its origin.
This would not be a man-made institution. Jesus spoke of this when he said,
upon this rock, I will build my church; and the gates of hell [Hades ASV} shall not
prevail against it.
Third, the phrase” a kingdom” reveals that the kingdom would be monarchial in government.
it would not be a democracy. Christ would be King over His kingdom (Acts 1727; 2:22-56;
Rev. 19: 16). Fourth, the phrases” which shall never be destroyed,” ”not left to other people,”
and ”it shall stand forever” reveal that the kingdom would be indestructible in its nature. in
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contrast with the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Grecian, and Roman kingdoms, the spiritual
kingdom which God would set up would be indestructible and eternal and not superseded by
any other. This kingdom” cannot be moved” (Heb. 12:28). Fifth, the phrase” it shall break in
pieces and consume all these kingdoms” reveals that the kingdom would be universal in
scope (Isa. 2:1-5; Micah 4:1-5; Matt. 28:19).'2 This is the blessed kingdom of which
Christians are members today.
Seventh, we see Nebuchadnezzar’s Delight (Dan. 2:46-49). The king granted that
Daniel’s God is the” God of gods, and the Lord of lords, and a revealer of secrets.” He made
Daniel a ruler of the province of Babylon and the governor over the wise men of Babylon.
At Daniel’s request, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were also appointed over the affairs
of the province of Babylon. This is the tremendous history and background for Daniel’s
prophecy of the coming of the kingdom/church.
(4) The Continuation of The Kingdom/Church
Thus, far in our study of the theme” Isaiah 2 and Daniel 2 The Coming
Kingdom/Church” we have addressed: (1) The Concept of the kingdom/Church, (2) The
Characteristics of the Kingdom/Church, and (5) The Coming of the Kingdom/Church. We
have seen from various passages that the concept of the kingdom spoken of by the prophets
and the church established by Christ on the day of Pentecost are one and the same institution.
We have identified the characteristics of the kingdom/church as set forth by Isaiah. We have
observed the dream of Nebuchadnezzar and how it revealed the time of the coming of the
kingdom/church. Finally, let us consider (4) The Continuation of the Kingdom/Church.
First, the kingdom/church was preached. One of the great themes of the book of Acts
is the kingdom of God. The beginning and end of a book can often give you insight as to
what that book is about. When we look at the beginning of the book of Acts, we read in Acts
1:3,
To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs,
being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom
of God.
This passage introduces the concept of the kingdom in the book of Acts. It covers the
period of time that Jesus was associated with His disciples, and especially the apostles,
between His resurrection and His ascension. But then you come to the very last verse of the
last chapter of the book and you find a reminder of the kingdom of God, which was then in
existence.
Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord
Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him (Acts 28:51).
In Acts 8:12, we find Phillip preaching good tidings of the kingdom of God and the
name of Jesus Christ. On his second visit to Ephesus, Paul was reasoning and persuading as
to the things concerning the kingdom of God (Acts 19:8). in Acts 20, he reminded the
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Ephesian elders he had gone among them” preaching the kingdom” (Acts 20:25). In Acts
28:25, Paul was testifying the kingdom of God and persuading them concerning Jesus, both
from the law of Moses and from the prophets. It should be obvious from a study of Acts that
the kingdom of God is in existence and that it must continue to be preached today.
Second, the kingdom/church will be preserved despite persecution. The foes of the
church will continue to fight against the faithful (John 15:20; 16:55; 11 Tim. 5:12). However,
the church of Christ will be preserved (Dan. 2:44; 11 Sam. 7:12-15; Luke 1:55). The word of
God is the word or seed of the kingdom (Matt. 15:19). God’s word shall not pass away (Matt.
24:55). Therefore, the kingdom or church potentially exists in that seed which can be sown
in any age.
Third, the kingdom/church will be presented. it will be presented pure to Christ.

Ephesians 5:27 states,
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or
any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
Paul said to the church in Corinth,
For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to
Christ (11 Cor. 11:2).
It will be presented faultless before Deity (Jude 1:24). Fourth, the kingdom/church will be
perfected. I Corinthians 15:24 states,
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the
Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
When the end of this world comes and the kingdom is delivered up to God, we must
be a part of that blessed kingdom. This is why we must continue to
preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may
present every man perfect in Christ Jesus (Col. 1:28).
And truly everything that we enjoy here in righteousness will be in perfection and purity over
there! This is the glorious continuation and destiny of the kingdom/church.
“Many years ago, when A. Judson was serving as a missionary in Burma, he was
being questioned relative to the future of his work in that land; his reply was, ’The future is
as bright as the promises of God.” We have every reason to be optimistic regarding the future
of the kingdom/church because of the precious promises of Almighty God. Oh, how we ought
to love thy church, O God!
Source: Ed. Jim Laws. Spiritual Sword Lectureship: “Then Cometh the End” – October 17-
21, 1999. Mike McDaniel: The Coming Kingdom/Church. Pages 239-257.
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THE KINGDOM THE PROPHETS SAW
(Richard Rogers)
An understanding of the present reality, purpose and power of the Kingdom of God
will help us to appreciate the blessing Peter describes as “the grace that is to be brought unto
you at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (I Pet. 1:13).
Referring to Christ and Kingdom of God, Dr. Campbell Morgan in his book The
Teaching of Christ (P. 164) says:
“. . . it is patent that the Kingdom of God was His (Christ’s) chief concern. His
constant inspiration. His abiding purpose, and His all-sufficient power. Follow Him
through all the days of His public ministry, listen to every journey He took, watch
every action of beneficence or of judgment; and, in the light of the things He Him
said, it becomes apparent that the reason for all speech, and all action, for all journeys,
and all tarryings, for all pity and all anger was the Kingdom of God. It was the master
passion of His life, the fundamental conception of all His teaching and all His doing.”
Surely no greater testimony could be home to the Kingdom of God in the life of
Christ, and, if in His life, how much more in ours.
I. THE RECORD OF OLD TESTAMENT PROPHECY
As we consider the Old Testament revelation of “the seed,” as related to the promise,
we see that the Kingdom of God was to be set up:
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall
never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break
in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever: (Dan. 2:44),
and the Kingdom was to be received by “one like unto the Son of Man:”
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds
of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all pe0ple, nations,
and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which
shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed” (Dan. 7:13,
14).
The idea of the Kingdom of God appears often in the Old Testament (see Exod. 19:6;
II Sam. 7:12, 13; I Chron. 29:11; II Chron. 13:8; Ps. 22:28; 45:6; 103219; 145211-13; Isa.
9:7; 62:3; Mic. 4:7, 8; Obad. 21). It is important to notice that when the duration of the
Kingdom is referred to it is always unending, forever. “Thy kingdom is an everlasting
kingdom, and thy dominion endureth throughout all generations” (Ps. 145 :13). There is no
kingdom mentioned in the Bible as lasting for a millennium.
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Dr. Campbell Morgan writes:
“The terms, Kingdom of heaven, Kingdom of God, were in use in our Lord’s day in
the Rabbinical teachings. These terms, or their equivalents, are found in the Old
Testament Scriptures . . . but to neither Rabbinical teaching nor Old Testament
Scriptures must we go for interpretation of His meaning. The Rabbinical teachings
He largely contradicted. He did not contradict the teachings of the Old Testament, but
He corrected misinterpretations of them, and He fulfilled them. When, therefore, we
desire to know what our Lord really meant, we have but one court of appeal, His own
teachings” (The Teaching of Christ, pp. 164, 165).
As regards any difference in the two phrases Dr. Campbell Morgan comments:
“Matthew and Mark, in chronicling the key-note to the ministry of our Lord, used
different phrases. Matthew reported Him as saying:
“The Kingdom of heaven is at hand;’ (Matt. 4:17), while Mark recorded the
words thus: ‘The Kingdom of God is at ’ (Mark 1:15) . . . to base any particular
doctrine upon the difference is entirely unwarranted . . . they are mutually
interpretative” (ibib., page 161).
It is of interest to note the two phrases implied in Daniel 2:44. “The God of heaven
set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.” Further, it was customary for the Rabbis
to use the word “heaven” for God. We notice that the Lord Jesus does so in the parable of the
prodigal son (Luke 15:18, 21).
“A Stone Cut Out Without Hands”
The coming of the glorious Kingdom of God or heaven was revealed in a dream to the first
world ruler Nebuchadnezzar under the symbol of the colossal image:
“This image’s head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and
his thighs of brass, His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest
till that a stone was ‘cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that
were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass,
the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the
summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found
for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the
whole earth” (Dan. 2:32-35).
“In the days of those kings” (Dan. 2:44) refers to the four kingdoms represented by
the image. Medo-Persia conquered and incorporated Babylon. Greece then conquered Medo-
Persia and finally Rome came into power, the extent of which was far greater than any of the
others. So, while the image was standing in the period of these empires which represented
Gentile world dominion, at the close of the period the blow was struck at the feet signifying
a decisive blow which would cause the complete fall of the Gentile world dominion.
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The great kingdoms symbolized in the image are contrasted with the Kingdom of God
or Heaven.
The image reveals once again in human history a principle, i.e. first the natural then
the spiritual. The Kingdoms of the Colossus are human in origin, temporary in duration,
defective in power. The Kingdom of God or of Heaven is divine in origin, eternal in duration
and invincible in its power. Whereas each Kingdom of the Colossus is seen at once in its
power, the Kingdom of God is revealed as perpetually growing from a small beginning to
infinity.
Its description precludes the slightest suggestion of a natural, limited, and destructible
millennial kingdom.
Each succeeding kingdom symbolized in the image is represented by an inferior

substance; the head is of gold but the feet of iron and clay. World power must deteriorate.
Inherent corruption must prevail. The Kingdom God sets up is not of mere human
development; it is “cut without hands” and comes as a divine intervention to displace “that
which is born of the flesh” with “that which is born of the Spirit.” Christ affirms before Pilate,
a Roman governor, the other-worldly character of His Kingdom, and His answer is accepted.
The Jews of Christ’s day considered that they, as the natural seed of Abraham and
David, should possess the Kingdom of Heaven or God, but John the Baptist gives a blow to
this thought:
“In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, And
saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand . . . . But when he saw many
of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, 0 generation
of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore
fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham
to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children
unto Abraham” (Matt. 3:1, 2, 7-9).
And, Christ dealt a final blow:
“Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given
to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof” (Matt. 21:43),
and referred to the “crushing stone” of the image:
“And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall
fall, it will grind him to powder” (21 :44).
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The Invincible Kingdom
Four facts are here revealed concerning the Kingdom of God, and could not be applied
to any other kingdom. These facts are also revealed and confirmed in the New Testament.
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, (l) which
shall never be destroyed: (2) and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, (3) but
it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, (4) and it shall stand forever”
(Dan. 2:44).
(1) It is indestructible. None will prevail against it.
“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace,

whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear (Heb. 12:28).
(2) It will ever be in the possession of the same people, the true Israel of God, the
church.
“But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for
ever, even for ever and ever"(Dan. 7:18).
“And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my
church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And I will give unto thee the
keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven”
(Matt. 16:18, 19).
“But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the
spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Rom. 2:29).
“Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel,
which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all
children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, they which are the children of
the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted
for the seed” (Rom. 9:6-8).
“For we (Christians) are the circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and
rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh” (Phil. 3:3).
(3) It will possess and be victorious over all the kingdoms of the world.
“And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, the
kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and
he shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 11:15).
(4) It will endure forever.

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“And he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom there shall
be no end” (Luke 1:33).
“And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong
nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even
forever” (Mic. 4:7).
“And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in
it; and his servants shall serve him: . . . And there shall be no night there; and they
need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they
shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 22:3,5).
This scripture refers to the new heavens and the new earth, the consummation of the
Kingdom of God. The Kingdom of God was foreshadowed when the Lord said to Moses:
“Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; Ye have
seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagle’s wings, and brought
you unto myself: Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my
covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the
earth is mine; And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These
are the words which thou shalt Speak unto the children of Israel” (Exod. 19:3-6).
The threefold promise was given to the nation solely upon the condition of obedience
and fidelity on their part to the old covenant. The covenant was broken by the people and has
been utterly abolished by God, but today in the Kingdom of God there is a true antitype.
“But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people;
that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into
his marvellous light: which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of
God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy” (I Peter 2:9, 10).
“Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto
himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2: 14).
“And they sung a new song, saying, Thou are worthy to take the book and to open the
seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation: And has made us unto our God
kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth” (Rev. 5:9,10).
The spiritual birth of the Israel of Godin the Kingdom of God is foretold:
“Again he said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, 0 ye dry
bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold,
I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: And I will lay sinews upon you,
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and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and
ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezek. 37:4-6).
We have here the method of the rebirth. The Word of God and the Spirit of God. This
is beautifully realized in the New Testament:
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall
hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live” (John 5:25).
When Nicodemus came to the Lord Jesus enquiring as to the Kingdom of God,
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be
born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3).
He was told of his need of this spiritual new birth through the agency of the Spirit,
who is likened to the wind:
“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not
tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit”
(John 3:8).
And the word of the witness of Christ was:
Verily, verily I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have
seen; and ye receive not our witness” (John 3:1 1).
The result of Ezekiel’s prophecy is declared:
“So, I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they
lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army” (Each. 37: 10), and this was
seen in Acts 2:41,47;5:14;6:7; 11:24.
So, the spiritual Israel of God (Gal. 6:16) is raised up from the grave of sin and death
and placed into the true land, “the heavenlies” of which “Canaan” has ever been a type:
“And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; . . . Even when
we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)
And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ
Jesus” (Eph. 2:1, 5,6).
II. REALITY OF THE PRESENCE OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
The Lord Jesus clearly told the Jews of the presence in their midst of the unseen
spiritual Kingdom of God:
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“And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should
come, he answered them and said, the kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within
you” (Luke 17: 20, 21).
The kingdom is revealed in three phases.
(1) It was announced as being “at hand” by John the Baptist, “Saying, Repent ye: for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matt. 3:2, etc).
(2) It then came “with power” at Pentecost with the coming of the Holy Spirit (Mark
9: 1, Luke 24:49 and Acts 1:8).
“For the Kingdom of God is not in word, but in power” (I Cor. 4:20).
(3) And it is yet to be revealed “in glory “at the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ. At present the Kingdom is in mystery and might; hereafter it will be in manifestation
and majesty.
The Kingdom of God came to men when Christ came. By the Kingdom of God eras
are divided and distinguished, for Christ declared, “The law and the prophets were until John:
since that time the Kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it” (Luke
16:16).
The Kingdom of God is a spiritual order which lies within the visible world and
expresses itself through its subjects. It is inward and individual: when men are changed, they
change institutions and thereby change nations.
We do not bring the Kingdom of God into being, for it is here. We are told to “see”,
to “accept”, to “enter” and to “inherit” it. We are told to proclaim the Kingdom but never to
build it. Christ does not build the Kingdom of God but reigns in it with all authority. He
builds His church and that church exists for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God and
enjoys it privileges and power, and is entrusted with responsibilities. To Peter were given the
keys of the Kingdom of God, and in their use, he Opened the door of salvation to the Jews
(Acts 2), Samaritans (Acts 8:14), and Gentiles (Acts 10).
III. THE RESOURCES OF THE POWER OF THE KINGDOM
One message shines forth from all the pages of the Old Testament. It is “Not by might,
nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Host” (Zech. 4:6). The Kingdom is now
present in power and that power is the Holy Spirit.
Speaking of the mission of the Christ, John the Baptist said it is “He which baptizeth
with the Holy Spirit” (John 1:33).
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Christ not only came “preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God” (Mark 1:14), but
lived entirely through the Holy Spirit. Having been conceived by the Holy Spirit (Matt. 1:20),
He was in due time anointed by the Spirit (Matt. 3:16 and Luke 4:18), and it was recorded
“God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him for the Father loveth the Son, and hath given
all things into His hand” (John 3:34, 35). He was full of the Holy Ghost and led of the Spirit
(Luke 4:1). He cast out demons in the power of the Spirit (Matt. 12:28). He speaks words
that are “Spirit and life” (John 6:63). He promises to send the Spirit, the Comforter (John
14:16, 17), and finally He offers Himself to God “through the Spirit”:
“How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered
himself without spot to God” (Heb. 9:14).
After His resurrection, He gives commands to His disciples through the Spirit (Acts
1:2) and breathing into them bids them to receive the Holy Spirit.
“And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye
the Holy Ghost” (John 20:22).
He empowers them to witness unto all the world by the Spirit (Acts 1:8). Truly the
King has revealed the sufficiency and strength of each of His subjects in the Kingdom of God
which is now His own Kingdom till He delivers it up unto the Father (I Cor. 15 :24).
Now is the age of the Holy Spirit whose power is enjoyed by the subjects of the
Kingdom of God. This is revealed in the Epistle to the Ephesians:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (1:3).
The subjects of the Kingdom only need to receive of His enabling power by faith and
go forward empowered in obedience to do the will of God. The true character of the Kingdom
is found in this word of Paul:
“For the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and
joy in the Holy Ghost. For he that in these things serveth Christ is acceptable to God,
and approved of men” (Rom. 14:17, 18).
Under the figure of the material, the Old Testament prophets have foretold the
prosperity of the Kingdom of God and of Christ. Today many are realizing that the only true
prosperity is that which is within the heart and not in material possessions:
“And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of of righteousness
quietness and assurance forever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation,
and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places” (Isa. 32: 17, 18).
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“For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills
shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their
hands” (Isa. 55:12).
“Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the
Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy
and peace in believing, that ye may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy
Ghost” (Rom. 15:12, 13).
As the subjects of the Kingdom seek its furtherance and glory, then is the promise of
the supply of all the necessary material needs of daily life (Matt. 6:31-33).
IV. THOSE RESPONSIBLE FOR THE PROCLAMATION AND PROGRESS OF

THE KINGDOM
When Christ came, He found the people living under a false rule with false ideals.
The rulers loaded upon the people grievous burdens of trivial traditions and they gloried in
externalism and materialism (Matt. 23:4, 5). They were themselves enslaved and earthbound,
seeking only the restoration of their national prestige and glory and the preservation of their
natural kingdom (John 11 :47, 48).
The Kingdom that came and was proclaimed by Christ was intended to accomplish
the spiritual transformation of the nation and thereby translate its members into the Kingdom.
The proclamation of the Kingdom of God is the responsibility of each of its subjects
(Matt. 3:2), and it is to be unceasingly proclaimed to the very end of the age (Matt. 24:14).
Paul describes the sending forth of the evangelists of the gospel of the new covenant,
in the language of the pr0phecy of Isaiah:
“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that
publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that
saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” (Isa. 52:7; cp. Rom. 10:15).
and states their rejection by the disobedient natural Israel:
“But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed
our report?” (Rom. 10:16; cp. Isa. 53:1).
Many profess to be, yet are not, subjects of the Kingdom of God. These are spoken
of in the parables as “the tares”, “the bad fish” (Matt. 13:25, 48). The “children of the
Kingdom” are those who “enter” and “see” the Kingdom, being “born again” by the Word
of God and the Spirit of God (1 Pet. 1:23; John 3:3, 6).
The instrument for the propagation and extension of the Kingdom of God is the
church under the Lordship of Christ and in the power of the Spirit. All who are born of the
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Spirit are members of the church, which is His body. The New Testament carefully
distinguishes between the church which is the body of Christ, and the visible churches, so
often composed of, the true and the false. The Kingdom of God is the realm in which the
church and the churches function.
As revealed in the prophecies of Daniel and parables of the Lord, the Kingdom of
God grows from a small beginning:
“Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces
together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind
carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the
image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth” (Dan. 2:35).
“The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed. Which indeed is the least
of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree
. . .” (Matt. 13:31, 32).
The Kingdom of God and of Christ exists for the emancipation of those enslaved in
the kingdom of darkness (C01. 1:13; I John 3:8, 9); and, every subject is enlisted to war a
good warfare against all the forces of darkness and evil under the leadership of their Lord
and King (Eph. 6:10-20; 11 Tim. 2:1-5;4:5-8).
Many wonder why God allows sin and evil to continue when He could destroy such;
the answer is found in the longsuffering of God (II Pet. 3:9). Each subject of the Kingdom is
an accredited ambassador to carry the message of reconciliation to the world (11 Cor. 5:18-
21). The work of reconciliation includes the convicting, regenerating and transforming work
of the Holy Spirit, and continues throughout the entire age till its consummation at the coming
again of the Lord Jesus (Col. 1:19-22; I Thess. 5:23, 24).
The course of the Kingdom is marked by persecution and tribulation, even as John
the Apostle experienced:
“I, John who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, (Greek the
tribulation; cp. RV.) and in the kingdom and patience Jesus Christ, was in the isle that
is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Rev.
1:9).
Christ reigns amidst His foes; and, because of His merciful longsuffering, permits His
subjects to suffer and, in their sufferings, promises them His own throne (Rev. 3:21). In spite
of all the onslaughts against the church, amidst martyrdom and suffering, she continues and
ultimately possesses, in its fulness and glory, in the new heavens and new earth, the Kingdom
for which she suffered so much in time.
The Lord Jesus appreciated the loyalty of His apostles and the loss and suffering
sustained by them and He promised them:
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“Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the
Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matt. 19:28).
The term “regeneration” occurs only once again:
“Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he
saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost” (Titus
3:5).
G. Campbell Morgan gives the meaning of Christ as “My kingdom is of regeneration

and restoration.” At present, it is only the individual who is “born again” into that Kingdom;
but, in the day of His coming, the day of the Lord, the whole creation will have “a new birth”
in His Kingdom. It will be a day of “regeneration” for the present groaning creation (Rom.
8:19,21).
V. REALIZATION OF THE HOPE OF ISRAEL IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD
There is no greater expositor of “The Hope of Israel” than the apostle Paul. Whether
faced by his friends or foes, Paul’s message was concerning “The Hope of lsrael -~ The
Kingdom of God.”
Before the council and the high priest, Paul declares, “of the hope and resurrection of
the dead I am called in question” (Acts 23:6).
Before Felix:
“So worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law
and the prophets; And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that
there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and the unjust” (Acts 24:14,
15).
But it is before King Agrippa that we have his greatest apology, possibly because Paul
knew him to be a man “expert in all customs and questions which are among the Jews” (Acts
26:3).
“Now I stand and am judged for the h0pe of the promise made unto our fathers: Unto
which promise our twelve tribes, instantly serving God day and night, hope to come. For
which hope is sake, king Agrippa, I am accused of the Jews. Why should it be thought a thing
incredible with you, that God should raise the dead?” (Acts 26:6-8).
Paul declares that his message was according to Moses and the prophets:
“Witnessing both to small and great, saying none other things than those which the
prophets and Moses did say should come: That Christ should suffer, and that he
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should be the first that should rise from the dead, and should shew light unto the
people (Jews), and to the Gentiles” (Acts 26:22, 23).
Paul give further details of the hope to the well-informed King Agrippa. The Lord
Jesus had said to Paul:
“For I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness
. . . Delivering thee from the peOple (Jews) and from the Gentiles, unto whom I now
send thee, To open their (Jews and Gentiles) eyes, and to turn them from darkness to
light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of
sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (Acts
26:16-18).
Later, reaching Rome, in chains, Paul sends for the elders of the Jews and says:
“For this cause, therefore, have I called for you, to see you, and to speak with you:
because that for the hope of Israel I am bound with this chain . . . And when they had
appointed him a day, there came many to him into his lodging; to whom he expounded
and testified the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus, both out of the
law of Moses, and out of the prophets, from morning till evening” (Acts 28:20-23).
The Jews, in unbelief, were looking for a kingdom of earthly greatness, with material
wealth and national superiority. They were blind to the truth of their own scriptures and
prophets that the Kingdom of God was spiritual, to be “entered” and “seen” by a birth from
above:
“Jesus answered and said unto him (Nicodemus), Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom ofGod” (John 3:3-5).
This Kingdom was to be fully revealed in the resurrection of the dead at the Lord’s
coming, when the inheritance would be fully enjoyed by the saved of the people (Jews) and
Gentiles.
Although it seems so obvious that the hope of Israel is the Kingdom of God, there is
one scripture a passage in Paul’s letter to the Romans
(11:7) ~which should answer for all time the question of the true hope of Israel. It is:
“What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath
obtained it, and the rest were blinded.”
What had the election obtained? Surely the salvation of God in the Kingdom of God
the “eternal inheritance.”
“The rest were blinded.” How solemn these words! How true of the very Jews who
sought out Paul in Rome (Acts 28). Having “expounded and testified” the Kingdom of God,
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we read, “Some believed . . . and some believed not.” To the unbelievers Paul spoke this
significant word:
“Well spake the Holy Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers . . . the heart of
this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed”
(see Isa. 6:9, 10).
Having said this, Paul declared:
“Be it known therefore unto you, that the salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles,
and they will hear it” (see Isa. 40:5).
So, the book of the Acts of the Apostles closes with these significant words: Paul,
“Preaching the Kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus
Christ . . .” (Acts 28:31).
“Premillennialism True or False?” Richard Rogers: Matthew 24. The Kingdom the Prophets
Saw. Pages 137-149.
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THE ETERNAL KINGDOM
(James L. Meadows)
Premillennialism is a theological system, though varying in details, which embraces

the following tenets: (1) The Old Testament prophecies concerning the kingdom refer to an
earthly kingdom whose existence is still in the future; (2) The purpose of the coming of Christ
was to set up an earthly kingdom in the city of Jerusalem in order to reign from David’s
throne for one thousand years; (3) The Jews rejected Jesus as king and thus rejected his
earthly kingdom; (4) the establishment of the kingdom was postponed and the church was
established as an afterthought; (5) The Lord is returning to establish the kingdom on earth
and reign with his saints for one thousand years. (Lipe 4)
THE KINGDOM AND THE CHURCH ARE THE SAME
The words “kingdom” and “church” do not mean the same, but they refer to the same
institution. First, the Lord gave Peter the keys to the kingdom (Matt. 16:19), but he used the
keys to open the doors of the church on Pentecost (Acts 2:13-47). Second, the Lord placed
the Lord’s Supper in the kingdom (Matt. 26:29), but the Corinthians observed it in the church
(1 Cor. 11:18-22). Third, the Thessalonians were in the kingdom (1 Thess. 2:12), but they
were called the church (1 Thess. 1:1). Fourth, the Hebrews were citizens of the kingdom
which cannot be moved (Heb. 12:28), but they were also members of the church of the
firstborn (Heb. 12:23). Fifth, the church and the kingdom have the same source of authority.
Christ is head of the church (Eph. 1:22-23), but he is also king of the kingdom (Luke 1:30-
33; Acts 17:7). Sixth, Christians are members of the body (I Cor. 12:13), but they are also
citizens of the kingdom (Eph. 2:19). Since the church and the kingdom are the same, then
any verse in the New Testament which speaks of the kingdom (unless the eternal kingdom is
talked about) will be speaking of the church, and any verse that speaks of the church will be
talking about the kingdom.
MICAH 4:1-8
But in the Last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD
shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills;
and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let
us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of God of Jacob; and he will
teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for the law shall go forth of Zion,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people,
and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation;
neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and
under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of
hosts hath spoken it. For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and
we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever. In that day, saith
the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out,
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and her that I have afflicted; And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that
was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion
from henceforth, even for ever. And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the
daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall
come to the daughter of Jerusalem (KJV).
Several great truths about the kingdom are set forth in these verses. First, the “last
days” refer to the Christian dispensation. Peter said the events of Pentecost were what Joel
said would come to pass in the last days (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:16-19). Second, the Lord’s
house refers to the church. “But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to
behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and
ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15). The church was not an afterthought on God’s part (Eph.
3:9-11). Third, “all nations” would become a part of it. The Gentiles would be a part of the
church.
And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren,
hearken unto me: Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to
take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets;
as it is written, after this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David,
which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That
the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my
name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things. (Acts 15:13-17)
Fourth, the law governing the church would go forth from Jerusalem. The Lord told
the apostles to remain in Jerusalem until they received power from on high (Luke 24:49).
They received power when the Holy Spirit came (Acts 1:8) and they began to reveal God’s
plan for man. Fifth, the kingdom was to be a peaceful kingdom. It would not be defended or
extended by force. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal (2 Cor. 10:4-5). Jesus declared
that his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36). Sixth, it is a kingdom that can never be
destroyed.
First it has a law that can never be destroyed. The law of the kingdom is the New
Testament. God had promised through Jeremiah that he would give a new covenant (Jer.
31:31-34). It is called “the law of the spirit” (Rom. 8:2), “the law of Christ” (Gal. 6:2), and
“the perfect law of liberty” (Jas. 1:25). It is indestructible. “But the word of the Lord endureth
for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you” (1 Pet. 1:25). Second,
Christ is its king and he is eternal. “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever”
(Heb. 13:8). “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive evermore, Amen; and
have the keys of hell and of death” (Rev. 1:18). Third, the citizens of the kingdom are
Christians (Eph. 2:19) and they have an indestructible and eternal nature (Matt. 10:28; 1
Thess. 4:13-18). Fourth, Daniel said the kingdom would never be destroyed (Dan. 2:44).
“Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we
may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” (Heb. 12:28).
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DANIEL 2:44-45
Daniel was carried into Babylonian captivity in 606 BC. He was elevated to be one
of Nebuchadnezzar’s most trusted advisors. One night Nebuchadnezzar had a dream, but he
forgot his dream. When his wise men could not tell him the dream he commanded that they
all be put to death, which would have included Daniel.
God revealed the dream to Daniel and also its meaning. Daniel told Nebuchadnezzar
that he saw a great image which had a head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs
of brass, legs of iron, and feet of iron and clay. He also saw a little stone cut out of the
mountain without hands which crushed the fourth world empire (Dan. 2:1-35).
He then told Nebuchadnezzar that he was the head of gold—the Babylon kingdom
which lasted from 606 BC to 536 BC (Dan. 2:36-38). Another kingdom would arise which
was the Medo-Persian kingdom—536 BC to 331 BC. The third kingdom, the Grecian
kingdom, lasted from 331 BC to 60 BC. The fourth empire was the Roman Empire which
lasted from 60 BC to AD 476.
And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall
in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Forasmuch as
thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain, without hands, and that it
break in pieces, the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God
had made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is
certain, and the interpretation thereof sure. (Dan. 2:44-45)
Daniel plainly states that God would set up a kingdom in the days of the Roman
Empire. The Romans were in power when Jesus was upon this earth. If he did not set up his
kingdom, as the Dispensationalists claim, then the prophecy failed.
A time prophecy cannot be postponed. The little stone cut out of the mountain without
hand represents the growth of the kingdom. “Another parable put he forth unto them, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed….” (Matt. 13-31).
The parable means that though the kingdom of heaven may begin with a small group
of insignificant men, yet it will grow to enormous proportions. The parable represents
the growth of the kingdom from its small beginning on the day of Pentecost to its
large borders of the present day. . . (Boles 296)
THE BEGINNING OF THE KINGDOM
Every reference to the kingdom before the day of Pentecost always points to the
future. Every reference to the kingdom after the day of Pentecost (unless the eternal
kingdom is being talked about) always points backward.
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CONCLUSION
The kingdom came in perfection on Pentecost. The time was right ‘- the last days.”
The place was right—Jerusalem. Jews entered the kingdom on this day (Acts 2:14, 38-47)
and later the Gentiles (Acts 10:17-11:18). All forms of premillennialism are proven false by
the fact that the kingdom has come and that Christians are already in it (Col. 1:13).
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “Proclamation and Promise: Major themes in the
Minor Prophets” - 2011, James L. Meadows: The Eternal Kingdom. Pages 362-366.
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WHAT IS THE KINGDOM OF GOD?
(David Treybig)
What is the Kingdom of God? It is the central theme of Jesus’ teaching and the
foundational message of the Church founded by Him through His disciples. As Mark explains
in his Gospel account, “Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God
is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.’”
The gospel of the Kingdom of God
Matthew and Luke likewise record that Jesus’ message was the “gospel” or “glad
tidings” of the Kingdom (Matthew 4:23; Luke 8:1). Even though Matthew referred to it as
“the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 4:17; Matthew 5:3, 10, 19-20) and Paul once called it
“the kingdom of Christ and God” (Ephesians 5:5), the predominant name in Scripture is “the
kingdom of God.”
Jesus consistently taught this same message of hope—“gospel” means good news—
of the Kingdom throughout His ministry. His parables—stories with spiritual lessons—often
dealt with this Kingdom, which God the Father and His Son had prepared prior to the
existence of man at “the foundation of the world’” (Matthew 25:34). In the Kingdom
parables, Jesus explained what we must do to enter the Kingdom and what conditions will be
like in it. Many of the Old Testament prophets had written of this Kingdom while under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:20-21).
After training His 12 disciples, Jesus sent them out “to preach the kingdom of God
and to heal the sick” (Luke 9:2). After His crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus appeared before
His disciples and continued “speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts
1:3). Later, Paul likewise described his ministry as preaching “the kingdom of God” (Acts
14:22; Acts 19:8; Acts 20:25; Acts 28:31; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10; 1 Corinthians 15:24) and
referred to his fellow ministers as “workers for the kingdom of God” (Colossians 4:11).
A literal or a figurative kingdom?
What is the Kingdom of God—a literal or a figurative kingdom? While it is generally

understood that the message Jesus preached was that of the Kingdom of God, the question as
to whether this Kingdom is literal or figurative is more complicated. Since Jesus came
preaching that the Kingdom was “at hand” (Mark 1:15), some think it is literally here on
earth via the Church or figuratively in our hearts. Others, recognizing that “flesh and blood
cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 15:50), say it is not yet here.
“And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall
never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces
and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever” (Daniel 2:44). The Kingdom of
God will thus replace the governments of this earth. Acknowledging the difficulty in
understanding this part of His message, Jesus termed it a “mystery.” Speaking to His
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disciples, Jesus said, “To you it has been given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God;
but to those who are outside, all things come in parables, so that ‘Seeing they may see and
not perceive, and hearing they may hear and not understand; lest they should turn, and their
sins be forgiven them’” (Mark 4:11-12). So, what did the disciples understand? What did
Jesus and the prophets foretell? A careful study of the Scriptures provides clarity.
• The Kingdom of God is a literal kingdom. God gave King Nebuchadnezzar a dream
of an image of a man with a head of gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and
thighs of bronze, its legs of iron and its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. God
revealed the meaning of the dream through Daniel, showing that there would be four
world-ruling empires (Daniel 2:31-43). History has shown these to be the Babylonian,
Medo-Persian, Greco-Macedonian and Roman empires.Concluding this explanation,
Daniel wrote: “And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom
which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it
shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever”
(verse 44). The Kingdom of God will thus replace the governments of this earth.
• The Kingdom of God will be established on earth when Jesus returns. The time
that the Kingdom is established will be after Christ’s return to earth. Revelation 11:15
states: “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven,
saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of
His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’” Jesus told His disciples that when
the Kingdom was established, they would “sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve
tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28, also compare Luke 22:30).
• We prepare for the Kingdom by living according to the rules of the Kingdom
now. Explaining how one might enter the Kingdom of God, Jesus told Nicodemus
that one must be “born again” (John 3:1-8). This process begins with baptism, which
signifies the death of the former sinful man and the beginning of a new life dedicated
to Christ (Romans 6:1-5). It culminates in a change from mortal flesh and blood to
immortal spirit at Christ’s return (1 Corinthians 15:50-53; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
Once we embark on this process, we are symbolically “conveyed” into the Kingdom
(Colossians 1:13) and our “citizenship” is now described as being in heaven
(Philippians 3:20). At the completion of the process of being born again, we will be
changed into immortal beings and become kings and priests serving in God’s
Kingdom on earth (Revelation 1:6; Revelation 5:10). For a more in-depth
explanation, see our article “What Does It Mean to Be Born Again?”
Now that you know what the Kingdom of God is, you need to understand how to follow
Jesus’ command to seek this Kingdom and His righteousness (Matthew 6:33). Your task is
to learn what God’s laws are and then to begin living in accordance with the rules of that
Kingdom.
Source: https://lifehopeandtruth.com/prophecy/kingdom-of-god/what-is-the-kingdom-of-
god/
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THE KINGDOM OF GOD IN THE OLD TESTAMENT: THE PROPHETIC HOPE
(Ben Dunson)
When the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel went into exile the hope for God’s
rule over the earth to be manifested in an Israelite king seemed to have come to nothing. The
prophets (before, during, and after the exile), however, make it clear that even with the exile
God would not, and did not, abandon His intention to rule over His people and His world
through a Davidic king.
Many important prophetic passages reveal that the only hope for the establishment of
an enduring and faithful kingdom in Israel lies in a future work of God’s redemption. The
human heart is too corrupt for God’s purposes for the world to be accomplished through
Israel’s fallen and sinful kings. Periodic revivals and times of faithfulness (such as Josiah’s
reforms [2 Kings 23]) are not enough to usher in God’s worldwide dominion. Despite Israel’s
earthly failure God still does not abandon His plan to reign over the whole world through His
appointed human king.
How will this reign manifest itself? What is necessary for God to reverse the failure
of Israel to be a light to the nations and extend the kingdom across the earth? First, God will
bring about a new exodus. This exodus, however, will not be a mere deliverance from Israel’s
earthly enemies. Instead, God will come in power to deliver His people as He ushers in the
new creation itself and renews His reign over His people. As Isa 35:1-4, 8-10 puts it:
The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom
like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing. The
glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the majesty of Carmel and Sharon. They shall
see the glory of the LORD, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, and
make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, “Be strong; fear
not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He
will come and save you.” … And a highway shall be there, and it shall be called the
Way of Holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk
on the way; even if they are fools, they shall not go astray. No lion shall be there, nor
shall any ravenous beast come up on it; they shall not be found there, but the redeemed
shall walk there. And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with
singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
The prophets speak of God’s deliverance of His people in this way as the
reestablishment of God’s kingdom:
Go on up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good news; lift up your voice with
strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good news; lift it up, fear not; say to the cities of
Judah, “Behold your God!” Behold, the Lord GOD comes with might, and his arm
rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will
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tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them
in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. (Isa 40:9-11).
It is not as if God somehow ceased to be king simply because of the failure of Israel’s
earthly kings. Instead, speaking of a return of God in the power of His kingdom is meant to
highlight the necessity of God performing a dramatic act of salvation and rescue for His
wayward people in the future. If the kingdom of God is to be manifest over the earth, and if
Israel is to be a light to the nations (which will be brought about through a messianic king:
Isa 9:1-7; 42:1-9), then it will only come about when YHWH returns to Zion to deliver His
sinful people and equip them to extend His saving reign to the furthest points of the earth:
How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who
publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who
says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their
voice; together they sing for joy; for eye to eye they see the return of the Lord to Zion.
Break forth together into singing, you waste places of Jerusalem, for the Lord has
comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation
of our God. (Isa 52:7-10)
Jeremiah expresses this with the imagery of God placing shepherds (a symbol of
kingship) over His people in the context of bringing them (in a new exodus) out from the
nations to which they have been driven (Jer 23:3-4):
Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven
them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more,
nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the Lord.
Daniel speaks of this reality in this way (Dan 2:44):
And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall
never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in
pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever …
Through the end-time kingdom that God will set up “the Lord will be king over all
the earth. On that day the Lord will be one and his name one” (Zech 14:9). God, through a
future, godly Davidic king will reign over the whole world forever (see Psalm 89). Adam’s
dominion mandate will be fulfilled through the dramatic saving work of God. In that day “the
earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea”
(Hab 2:14).
While the prophets consistently speak of God as the one who will sovereignly usher
in His end time kingdom, they also speak of this as being accomplished through a kingly
messiah figure. This messiah is described in many ways in the prophets, but two passages
stand out as particularly significant for understanding the ministry of Jesus Christ, namely
Isaiah 52:13-53:12 and Daniel 7.
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In Isaiah 52:13-53:12 the prophet speaks of a coming servant of the Lord who “shall
be high and lifted up and shall be exalted” (Isa 52:13). This is the language of kingly
exaltation, as is reinforced two verses later where we read that “kings shall shut their mouths
because of him” (52:15). The exaltation of God’s servant, however, will paradoxically come
about through his own suffering (53:3-5):
He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him
not. Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him
stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he
was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
Israel’s sinful failure requires atonement: “All we like sheep have gone astray; we
have turned—everyone—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us
all” (Isa 53:6). The suffering and death of God’s kingly servant is necessary for the end-time
kingdom to be established. In fact, it is the very means by which the kingdom will be
established.
In Daniel 7 the coming kingly deliverer of God’s people seems strikingly unlike the
suffering servant of Isaiah 52-53. Consider Dan 7:13-14:
I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like
a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. And
to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and
languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not
pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.
These two verses nicely encapsulate Daniel’s vision of an end-time “son of man” who
will defeat all the enemies of God and of His people. Through this son of man, God will
establish his dominion over all nations, a dominion that will never pass away or be destroyed.
The dominion mandate of Adam will be fulfilled. Israel (see Dan 7:22), through the kingly
son of man, will establish God’s kingdom over all peoples.
How is it, then, that the final, saving reign of God can be said to ushered in through a
suffering servant (Isa 52-53) and a triumphant heavenly deliverer (Dan 7)? Which is it? The
answer is that it is both: victory will come about through the suffering of God’s king. This
was difficult for many Jews to accept, because they simply expected a triumphant king,
without understanding how he would triumph (see John 6:15, for example). This is, however,
precisely how Jesus understands His own kingly calling: He is the heavenly son of man who
will come on the clouds to judge the world, but only after He has died on the cross for the
sins of His people. This seemingly paradoxical reality is a vital theme that we must return to
in future posts.
While Israel does eventually return from its earthly exile in Babylon (which has since
come to be ruled by the Persians), the reports in Ezra and Nehemiah of their return fall short
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of the prophetic hope of a renewed Israel ruled over by a righteous Davidic king. The Persian
king Cyrus sends the Israelites back to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple (2 Chron 36:22-23),
which they indeed do (Ezra 1-6), but Israel never attains anything near the glories of the
monarchy under King David. This is perhaps seen most clearly in the weeping of the elders
of the people at the dedication of the new temple, since it falls significantly short of the glory
of the previous temple (Ezra 3:12-13). This new temple probably did not even contain the
ark of the covenant (the centerpiece of God’s saving presence with his people) which was
most likely lost or destroyed when Judah was defeated by Babylon. The prophetic hope looks
to a future day when God will come in power to once-and-for-all set up his end-time
kingdom. It is with this sense of anticipation that the Gospels open, which is captured so
memorably in Simeon’s words in Luke 2:29-23:
Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for
my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all
peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.
Simeon, like Anna, and “all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke
2:38), knew that a king would one day come who would save and deliver God’s people.
The Old Testament teaching on God’s kingdom is the necessary context for making
sense of Jesus’ teaching and preaching, especially His announcement that the kingdom of
God was “at hand” (Matt 3:2). The Jews Jesus preached to knew that God was king. They
knew that He had always been king. What they did not know (apart from those who were
given special revelation) was that the final, end-time, saving reign of God announced by
Israel’s prophets was already breaking into the world in Jesus’ own person and ministry. We
must therefore turn to the Gospels to see what Jesus has to say about the nature of the
kingdom of God.
Source: http://www.ligonier.org/blog/kingdom-god-old-testament-prophetic-hope/
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Jesus and the Millennium
(John F McArthur)
The prophecies of the Old Testament, taken at face value, inevitably lead to
premillennialism. As we saw in Monday’s post, this is a point on which amillennial and
postmillennial scholars agree. Even a brief survey of Old Testament prophecy leaves no
question as to what was being described. John Walvoord explains:
If interpreted literally, the Old Testament gives a clear picture of the prophetic
expectation of Israel. They confidently anticipated the coming of a Savior and
Deliverer, a Messiah who would be Prophet, Priest, and King. They expected that He
would deliver them from their enemies and usher in a kingdom of righteousness,
peace, and prosperity upon a redeemed earth. It is hardly subject to dispute that the
Old Testament presents such a picture, not in isolated texts, but in the constantly
repeated declaration of most of the prophets. All the major prophets and practically
all the minor prophets have Messianic sections picturing the restoration and glory of
Israel in this future kingdom. This is so clear to competent students of the Old
Testament that it is conceded by practically all parties that the Old Testament presents
premillennial doctrine if interpreted literally. The premillennial interpretation offers
the only possible literal fulfillment for the hundreds of verses of prophetic testimony.
(The Millennial Kingdom, 114)
Because the Jewish people of the Old Testament interpreted the words of the prophets
in a literal way, they expected a future messianic kingdom on earth. Anticipation for that
golden age only escalated throughout the Intertestamental period. As Stanley Porter observes,
During the so-called Intertestamental period, there was developing thought in much
Jewish literature of a coming resurrection and the establishment of a ‘millennial
kingdom’ …For example, a millennial kingdom is spoken of in such works as 1 Enoch
6–36, 91–104, and 2 Enoch 33:1, where it is to be 1,000 years, Pss. Sol. 11:1–8 and
Jub. 23:27, where it is again 1,000 years, 4 Ezra [2 Esdras] 7:28–9, where it is 400
years, and Test. Isaac 6–8, where it is referred to as a millennial banquet.
(“Millenarian Thought in the First-Century Church,” 63–64)
In the time of Christ, then, the universal expectation of the Jewish people centered on
an earthly kingdom in which the Messiah would reign over all the nations from Jerusalem.
This would have been Mary’s perspective when she heard Gabriel’s announcement
in Luke 1:31–33. It was also the view of the disciples during their time with Jesus—which is
why, though driven by selfish motives, they sought for greatness in the kingdom (cf. Matthew
20:21; Mark 10:37; Luke 22:24).
When we consider the New Testament’s treatment of the millennial issue, we must
do so against the backdrop of first-century Jewish eschatology. If the New Testament writers
rejected the premillennialism that was so prevalent in their day, we would expect them to
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denounce it clearly and explicitly (just as they did in response to other issues, like the legalism
of the Judaizers). A strong, overt condemnation would be necessary in order to overturn the
widespread eschatology of Jewish believers based on the common understanding of Old
Testament Scripture that had been passed down to them.
The fact that no such denunciation exists is highly significant, especially when paired
with New Testament passages where the literal interpretation of Old Testament prophecy is
upheld (e.g. Acts 3:18–21; Rom. 11:25–29). Moreover, the most explicit reference to the
millennium in all of Scripture is found in the New Testament, in Revelation 20:1–6. If the
goal of the New Testament writers was to overturn the prevailing eschatology of their day,
as the amillennial position asserts, they did a very poor job of it—so poor, in fact, that the
generations of church fathers who immediately followed after them understood the New
Testament in a distinctly premillennial way (as Michael Vlach pointed out in yesterday’s
article).
To cite Walvoord again:
One of the most eloquent testimonies to premillennial truth is found in the absolute
silence of the New Testament, and for that matter the early centuries of the church,
on any controversy over premillennial teaching. It is admitted that it was universally
held by the Jews. It is often admitted that the early church was predominantly
premillennial. Yet there is no record of any kind dealing with controversy. It is
incredible that if the Jews and the early church were in such a serious error in their
interpretation of the Old Testament and in their expectation of a righteous kingdom
on earth following the second advent, that there should be no corrective, and that all
the evidence should confirm rather than deny such an interpretation. (Millennial
Kingdom, 118–19)
In today’s post, I would like to focus specifically on the words of the Lord Jesus, to
see whether He rejected or affirmed the millennial expectations of His day.
Did Jesus Reject Premillennialism?
Though Jesus often spoke of the kingdom of God in a general sense (as the realm in
which God rules or the sphere of salvation), He never denied the reality of the future
millennial kingdom. (For example, Jesus’ words to Pilate in John 18:36 do not deny that His
kingdom will one day be present in this world, but only that His kingdom will not be of this
world; that is to say, the establishment of His kingdom will not be characterized by the
ungodly machinations of this evil world system [cf. John 17:11–16; 1 John 2:16–17]).
On the contrary, Jesus’ promise in Matthew 19:28 was explicitly premillennial. He
told His disciples, “Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration
when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” That promise was reiterated on the night before His death
in Luke 22:28–30: “You are those who have stood by Me in My trials; and just as My Father
has granted Me a kingdom, I grant you that you may eat and drink at My table in My
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kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” The disciples, who
shared the millennial expectations of their fellow Jews, understood those promises literally
(as evidenced in Acts 1:6).
After the Resurrection, the Lord continued to instruct the disciples about the kingdom.
Luke, in his brief description of the forty day period between the Resurrection and Ascension,
explains that this topic was the predominant theme of Christ’s teaching. In Acts 1:3 Luke
writes, “To these [the apostles] He also presented Himself alive after His suffering, by many
convincing proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days and speaking of the things
concerning the kingdom of God” (emphasis added). His primary message concerned the
kingdom. Though the disciples had been characterized, in the past, by hard-heads and hard-
hearts, such was no longer the case, because Christ “opened their minds to understand the
Scriptures” (Luke 24:45).
It is at the very end of this forty-day period that we come to a most instructive passage
regarding the millennial kingdom. After having been taught about the kingdom by Christ
Himself, and having been granted a supernatural understanding of God’s Word, the disciples
still understood the messianic kingdom in a literal, premillennial sense.
In Acts 1:6, we read, “So when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying
‘Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?’” In their minds, after
intensive instruction on the subject by the resurrected Christ Himself, the millennial promises
of the Old Testament were still to be understood as literally true. Their only question was
when would these things come to pass?
It is important to note the manner in which Jesus responded to their question. “He
said to them, ‘It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His
own authority’” (v. 7). Significantly, Christ did not denounce or correct their millennial
expectations. He did not refute their understanding of the nature of the kingdom. Instead, He
merely explained that they were not privy to knowing the timing of that future kingdom.
During the forty days Jesus spent with His disciples, discussing things pertaining to
the kingdom, He certainly could have taught them that it was only a spiritual kingdom.
Having opened their eyes to understand the Scripture, the Lord could have clearly explained
to them that the Old Testament prophets ought to be interpreted in a non-literal way. Yet, He
did neither.
At the end of this period, the disciples were still convinced that the kingdom would
literally be restored to the nation Israel. If Christ had wanted to correct that notion, this would
have been the time to do it. Instead, He did nothing of the sort. He refused to answer their
question about the timing of the kingdom, but He never refuted their understanding of the
nature of it.
Christ’s response indicates that the apostles’ expectation of a literal, earthly kingdom
mirrored His own teaching and the plan of God clearly revealed in the Old Testament. But
the timing of the kingdom was still future. In the meantime, the Lord had a specific mission
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for the disciples to accomplish, which was to be His “witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in
Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth” (v. 8).
Premillennialists, then, join with the apostles in their expectation of a future messianic
kingdom in which Christ will reign on the earth.
Today’s post is adapted from Dr. MacArthur’s chapter 8 in Christ’s Prophetic Plans
(Moody, 2012).
Source: https://www.tms.edu/preachersandpreaching/jesus-and-the-millennium/
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Christ On David’s Throne
CHRIST ON
DAVID’S THRONE
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined
1. Premillennialism teaches that the Lord Jesus is currently seated at the right hand of
the Father on a throne but this is not the throne of David (Revelation 3:21).
2. The claim that Christ n is in no sense sitting on the throne of David today.
3. He is not currently ruling as the promised Davidic King.
4. Therefore, they state that Christ will have another throne, that is, the throne of David,
when He returns to reign (literally) a thousand year on earth on Judah.
Doctrine Defeated.
1. Peter explained that Christ is reigning of David’s throne - Acts 2:25-36.
a. Peter’s point about David is that God made a promise that from the fruit of his
loins He will bring one that will sit in David’s throne.
b. Peter continued explaining that David did not ascended to heaven.
c. God made Christ both Lord and Christ.
d. The word Lord is used to describe authority.
e. The word Christ means anointed; the Hebrew equal term is Messiah.
f. Christ was raised and exalted, and He is sit on the right hand of God in heaven.
g. Therefore, Christ is reigning since He ascended to heaven and now He is sited
on the right hand of God, which is, the throne of David.
h. There is no indication of an earthly throne.
2. Paul said that Christ is king - 1 Timothy 6:14-15.
a. There is no one else that is king and lord as He is.
b. He is the only one that deserves such titles.
3. Is the throne of God different than David’s Throne?
a. The throne of God is the same of the throne of Solomon and David.
b. In 1 Chronicles 29:23 says that Solomon seated in the Lord’s throne.
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True
TRUE
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CHRIST AND THE THRONE OF DAVID
(F. Furman Kearley)
I. THE OLD TESTAMENT AND THE THRONE OF DAVID
What does the Old Testament promise and prophesy concerning the throne and reign
of David? First of all, there is a vast amount of material concerning the actual king David
and his reign. All promises and prophesies concerning the throne and reign of David are
rooted in the golden age of David’s actual reign. God chose, anointed and exalted David as
king. By his very successful reign, David became, in the minds of the Hebrew nation, the
ideal king, the prototype of the Messiah. Julius H. Greenstone in his work. The Messiah Idea
in Jewish History, has observed:
David became the type and ideal of a Jewish king, the model, for all time, of the
person of the Messiah, indeed, by some prophets and sages identified with the
Messiah.
The activities and characteristics of David that propelled him by the providence and
design of God into the prototype of the ultimate Messiah may be briefly stated as follows:
1. David was the Messiah of God.

2. David was the king par excellence.
3. David was the king of unity.
4. David was the victorious warrior.
5. David was the founder of Jerusalem.
6. David was the spiritual leader through his psalms and the arrangements for the
temple.
7. David was the pattern of righteousness.
8. David was the preserver of the dynasty.
9. David had an everlasting covenant with God.
10. The throne of Judah became designated as David’s throne.
Since the words, Messiah and Christ are of such importance, it is of value to note the
application of these terms to David. In 11 Samuel 23:1, David is called “the anointed of the
God of Jacob.” The Hebrew word translated anointed is the word, Messiah and the Septuagint
translation of this is Christos. Sometimes the Hebrew word is transliterated into the Greek as
Messias. From thence we derive our English words Messiah and Christ. David thus became
the ideal Messiah or Christ and later prophets spoke of the coming Messiah as one like David.
The Prophets Statements About the Throne of David
Amos 9:11-15 expresses the following four expectations:
1. The Lord would raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen and would raise up its
ruins and rebuild it as in days of old.
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2. The people of Israel would be returned from captivity and build the waste cities.
3. Agricultural activity and prosperity would result.
4. Israel would be planted upon her land and would never again be pulled up.
Hosea 3:4, 5 affirms that the children of Israel would abide many days without king,
sacrifice, pillar, ephod or teraphim. They would then return and seek the Lord their God, and
David their king. David here is generally understood to stand for one of the seed or lineage
of David.
Isaiah has several passages that express hope concerning one sitting on David’s throne.
Some of the important statements may be summarized as follows:
1. The prophet foretells of a child who will be born, unto whom the government shall
be given and it shall increase. This child will be upon the throne of David and over
His kingdom upholding it with justice and righteousness (Isaiah 9:6, 8).
2. Isaiah describes a shoot coming forth from the stock of Jesse who will have the Spirit
of the Lord with wisdom and understanding. He will rule with justice and
righteousness and His rule will be characterized by an idyllic age in which domestic
animal and children could live and play with dangerous, wild creatures without being
hurt (Isa. 1121-16).
3. Other references to David in Isaiah are Isaiah 16:5 and 53:3.
Jeremiah provides considerable help in understanding that the prophetic expectations

were concerning a spiritual Messiah and kingdom. He makes it very plain that the literal
dynasty of David was coming to an end. He said:
Therefore, thus saith Jehovah concerning Jehoiakim, king of Judah: He shall have none
to sit upon the throne of David; and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat
and in the night to the frost. And I will punish him and his seed and his servants for their
iniquity (Jeremiah 36:30, 31).
Concerning Jehoiachin, the son of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah said:
Write ye this man childless, a man that shall not prosper in his days; for no more shall a
man of his seed prosper, sitting on the throne of David, and ruling in Judah (Jeremiah
22:30).
However, in a very positive sense Jeremiah did expect the following concerning the
restoration of Israel and the Davidic king (Jeremiah 30: 1-31:40).
1. God would restore the fortunes of Israel and Judah and bring them back to the land
which He gave to their fathers.
2. God would break the yoke from off their neck, burst their bonds and strangers would
no more make servants of them.
3. The Lord would raise up David their king, and they would serve Him and the Lord.
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4. The city would be rebuilt upon its mound and the palace would stand where it used
to be.
5. Their prince or their ruler would be one of them, coming out of their midst.
6. God would make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
7. The Lord would gather the remnant of His flock out of all the countries, bring them
back to their folds, and place shepherds over them (Jeremiah 23:1-8).
8. The Lord would raise up for David a righteous branch who would reign as king, deal
wisely and execute justice and righteousness in the land.
9. In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will dwell safely (Jeremiah 33:16).
10. David will never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel (Jeremiah
33:17).
Time does not permit close examination of all of the prophetic expectations. Ezekiel
prophesied that God would set a shepherd over His people, His servant David (Ezekiel 34:23,
24; 37:22-28). Expectations are also expressed by Haggai and Zechariah. A number of
prophetic psalms also speak of God’s covenant with David to establish his throne forever
(Psalm 18:50; 89:28-37; 132:17, 18).
II. PREVALENT INTERPRETATIONS OF THESE PROPHESIES
After reading and noting the above prophesies concerning David, the next step is the
proper interpretation of these prophesies. However. it is just at this point that the difficulty
arises and the divisions in the religious world are made manifest. There are at least four main
approaches to the interpretation of these prophesies. They are as follows:
1. The prophetic expectations concerning the restoration of the throne and reign of
David never came to pass and thus the prophesies were unfulfilled and only expressed
the vain hopes of some of the Hebrews. This is the approach taken by that segment
of scholars and Bible students who generally fall into the category labelled Liberals
and Modernists. They regard the prophets as fallible men and the scripture as the
product of human ingenuity. It is not within the scope of this study to examine the
basis of this view and to refute the arguments. It is sufficient to say that such a view
is totally false because it rejects the inspiration of both of the Old and New
Testaments.
2. Others who examine the prophesies carefully in their context contend that the
prophesies had a dual or a double meaning, one literal and the other spiritual. They
point out that Jeremiah 18:1-12, as well as other passages, clearly teaches that all
prophecy is conditional. Jonah never stated any conditions to the Ninivites, but still
his prophecy of doom was conditional and when the people repented, God changed
the prophecy. These point out then that the context of the prophetic passages is in
relation to the return from Babylonian captivity. Had the Jews in their return truly
submitted to God and followed His way, they would have had a more successful and
independent restoration. However, they did not meet the conditions of faithfulness to
God and therefore, many of the literal aspects of the pro-prophesies were not fulfilled
because the conditions were not met. However, the spiritual meaning of the
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prophesies was fulfilled in Christ and the church as will be shown shortly by a study
of the New Testament interpretation of these prophesies.
3. Some hold that the prophesies are entirely figurative and spiritual and had reference
only concerning Christ and His church. However, such a view does not take into
consideration seriously the context in which the prophesies are stated and must arise
from taking isolated passages out of their context and using them merely as proof
texts.
4. The fourth view holds that these prophesies have not been literally fulfilled yet and
therefore, they must still be fulfilled in the future. These expect then a future literal
reign of the Messiah, the son of David on the earth. This is of course the view held
by the premillennialists. The basic sequence and details of this view are well
expressed by J. Barton Payne in his Encyclopedia of Biblical Prophecy. This work is
widely used and endorsed by Premillennial evangelical scholars. Payne’s summation
concerning the millennium is as follows:
a. Satan will be overcome by Christ and bound during the millennial period.
b. Jesus will rule the earth as Messiah.
c. His kingdom will be worldwide.
d. God’s true Israel will permanently repossess the land of Canaan.
e. The unrepentant Jew will be removed from Palestine.
f. Repentant Jews will return to Palestine assisted by Gentiles.
g. There will be peace as all violence is restrained by God’s presence.
h. Crops will be abundant and prosperity general.
i. The kingdom will center in Jerusalem and its temple where the glory of the
Lord will reside.
j. Christ’s rule, while Satan is bound, will last one thousand years.
The above are only a few of the many detailed activities that premillennialists see
transpiring as Christ rules seated on the literal throne of David ruling from earthly Jerusalem.
Thus, the premillennialists do not understand these prophesies to have been fulfilled in Christ
and the church, but still look for a future fulfillment at the second advent of Christ. That such
a view is incorrect can be clearly demonstrated by noting how the New Testament interprets
these Old Testament prophesies.
How does the New Testament interpret the throne of David prophetic passages in
relation to Jesus Christ. The New Testament is the inspired standard to guide us in
understanding God’s will, for it is the revelation of God’s mystery or His secret which He
has kept hidden for ages. In many senses, the New Testament is the Old Testament revealed.
The New Testament is very plain that Jesus claimed to be the son of David and the
Messiah of God. First of all, consider Christ’s question of the Pharisees recorded in Matthew
2214245.
What think ye of the Christ? Whose son is He? They say unto Him, the Son of David.
He saith unto them, how then doth David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying, ‘The
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Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou my right hand, till I put thine enemies underneath
thy feet?’ If David calleth him Lord, how is he his son?
While Jesus does not answer His own question here, through the entire context of the
New Testament it becomes plain that the answer is through the virgin birth by Mary and the
incarnation of our Lord. Christ was the son of David by the flesh through Mary, but He is the
Lord of David by the Spirit being the son of God.
Secondly, when the Samaritan woman said, “1 know that Messiah cometh,” Jesus
responded, “I that speak unto thee am he” (John 4:25, 26). Thirdly, Jesus seems to
acknowledge that He was the Christ, the son of God in response to the high priest at His trial.
The priest said, “I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou art the Christ,
the son of God.” Jesus saith unto him, “Thou hast said” (Matthew 26:63, 64; Luke 22:66-
71). Fourthly, Jesus accepted the confessions of Peter and Martha that He was the Christ and
the son of God (Matt. 16:16; Mark 8:29; Luke 9:20; John 11:27).
Jesus certainly accepted the designation, “Son of David." He was addressed as “Son
of David” by certain blind men (Matt. 9:27-31), by the Phoenician woman (Matt. 15:21-28;
Mark 7:24-30), by other blind men (Matt. 20:29-33), and by the crowd at Jerusalem (Matt.
21:9, 15). Jesus accepted this title of address on each occasion so far as the Biblical narrative
is concerned. In concluding His revelation to John, Jesus clearly affirmed. “1 am the root and
the offspring of David, and the bright and the morning star” (Rev. 22: 16).
Jesus claimed to a have a kingdom and to be a king. The kingdom is spoken of many
times by Jesus. In the most specific passage, He says, “My kingdom is not of this world”
(John 18:36). In this context, three times He says, “My kingdom.” Immediately following
this, Pilate asked Jesus, “Art thou a king then?” Then, Jesus acknowledged that He was by
answering, “Thou sayest that 1 am a king. To this end have I been born, and to this end am I
come into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth” (John 18:30). Many other
passages could be sighted showing that the common belief of His enemies and His disciples
was that Jesus represented Himself a king.
The strongest and most convincing evidence of his kingship is the inscription erected
over His cross. Matthew 27:37 relates, “and over his head they put the charge against him,
which read, ‘This is Jesus, The King of the Jews’.” Thus, His claims to kingship were the
Romans’ justification for crucifying Him. Though they misunderstood the nature of His
kingdom and his kingship, yet, there can be no doubt that Jesus did claim to be king.
Jesus also repeatedly spoke of the kingdom of heaven or of God, its coming and its
nature (Matt. 4:17, 23;6;10; l3:1-52; etc.). In various ways, He represented Himself as king
over this kingdom. After Peter’s confession, Jesus was clearly speaking of Himself when He
said, “There are some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they
see the son of man coming in his kingdom” (Matt. 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27). Thus, Christ
was definitely to become king over His kingdom during the lifetime of some of the apostles.
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The disciples of Jesus and the New Testament writers definitely claim that Jesus was the
Messiah and son of David. Matthew argues strongly for the Davidic sonship. The very first
of the New Testament affirms that the book is “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ,
the son of David, the son of Abraham.” Matthew proceeds to trace the genealogy of Jesus
from Abraham to David and from David to all the kings of Judah and on down to Joseph. He
represents the angel as addressing Joseph, saying, “Joseph, thou son of David” (Matt. 1:20).
Matthew further affirms that the birth of Jesus fulfilled divine signs and inspired
prophesies. In Matthew 2, Jesus is the fulfillment of the prophecy that the Christ would be
born in Bethlehem. Many other times, Matthew points out that Jesus is the fulfillment of
prophesies concerning the Messiah, the son of David.
Luke also traces Jesus’ ancestry through David and all the way back to Adam (Luke
3:23-39). Luke’s account of the infancy narrative emphasizes the Davidic origin and
Messianic character of Jesus. The angel, Gabriel, appears “to a virgin betrothed to a man
whose name was Joseph, of the house of David” (Luke 1:26, 27). The angel says, “There is
born to you this day in the city of David, a savior, who is Christ (Messiah) the Lord” (Luke
2:11). On several occasions, Jesus is hailed by His followers with the title, “Thou son of
David.” Matthew records three instances while Mark and Luke record only one.
The apostle Paul in Romans 1:3, 4 says that Jesus “was born of the seed of David
according to the flesh, who was declared to be the son of God with power, according to the
spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead; even Jesus Christ our Lord.” In Acts
13:22, 23, Paul affirms that of David’s seed God has brought a savior to Israel even Jesus.
Paul exhorts Timothy in II Timothy 2:8, “Remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, of the
seed of David, according to my gospel.”
Much more evidence could be sighted from the New Testament but the above is
sufficient to prove that the New Testament considers Jesus as the fulfillment of the Old
Testament prophesies concerning the Messiah and the son of David. Furthermore, it can be
clearly shown that Christ’s kingdom has been established. His kingdom is synonymous with
the church and Christ is now reigning. Note the following considerations:
1. Christ’s kingdom was to be established during the lifetime of the apostles (Mark 9:1).
2. The kingdom was to come with power.
3. The power was to come when the Holy Spirit came (Acts 1 :8).
4. The Holy Spirit and the power came on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2: 1-4).
5. Peter clearly affirms in his speech on Pentecost that Jesus was the fulfillment of
David’s own prophecy. He said:
Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to
him, that of the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne; he
foreseeing this spake of the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he left
unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption (Acts 2:30, 31).
6. Luke 1:31-33 informs us that “The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his
father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his kingdom
there shall be no end.”
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7. The inspired James makes it clear that in Christ and in the church the tabernacle of
David has been rebuilt (Acts 15:15-18).
8. The kingdom was in the future until the day of Pentecost, but since Pentecost those
who are saved are translated into “the kingdom of the son of his love" (Colossians
1:13).
9. Christ now sits “on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens”
(Hebrews 8:1).
10. In this position, all things have been put into subject on under his feet with angels,
authorities, and all powers being made subject unto Him (Ephesians 1:20-23; 1 Peter
3:22).
11. Christ is sitting upon His throne, ruling upon His throne and serving as priest upon
His throne as prophesied by Zechariah 6:12, 13.
12. Christ will continue to rule and reign in this relationship until He puts all his enemies
under His feet. The last one to be abolished being death (1 Cor. 15:25, 26).
13. When all has been accomplished, Christ will deliver up the kingdom to God having
abolished all rule and all authority and power (I Cor. 15:24).
14. There is no indication of Christ ever returning to the earth; but, rather, when He
returns for his saints, the dead in Christ shall rise and those who are alive shall
together he caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever
be with the Lord (I Thess. 4:16, 17).
15. Then, in a new sense, when all the enemies have been conquered and rule and
authority abolished, “The kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our Lord,
and of his Christ: and he shall reign forever and ever” (Revelation 11:15).
“Premillennialism True or False?” F. Furman Kearley: Christ and the Throne of David. Pages
251-259.
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CHRIST AS DAVIDIC KING
(Cecil R. May, Jr.)
When Jacob blessed his twelve sons in Egypt, he gave Judah, his fourth son, the
blessing normally reserved for the firstborn as the one from whom the ruler and deliverer of
his people would ultimately come:
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him [until Shiloh comes, KJV and NKJV]; and to him shall be
the obedience of the peoples. (Gen. 49:10) [All Scripture quotations are from the
English Standard Version except where otherwise noted.]
David was a direct descendant of Judah, and during his reign the Lord made a
covenant with him. Some of its promises related to David’s son and immediate successor,
Solomon, but God added, “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever
before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Sam. 7:16). That part of the promise
became the foundation of Israel’s Messianic hope.
The prophets and many of the psalms reiterated that promise. The expectation that
from the line of David an Anointed One (Messiah in Hebrew, Christ in Greek) would come
and reign over the kingdom of God was pervasive among the Jews by the time of the birth of
Jesus. “Son of David” was a term by which the Messiah was called (Matt. 1:1; 1:20; 9:27;
21:9).
Many of the psalms, especially as interpreted to us by the apostles and other New
Testament writers, give emphasis to this theme. Psalm 110 promising that Christ would sit at
the right hand of God and Psalm 118 prophesying that the stone rejected by the builders
would become the chief cornerstone are both often quoted in the New Testament and applied
to Jesus.
Psalm 2 also speaks of the coming Christ as ruler over his kingdom (v. 6) and Son of
God (v. 7). Peter confessed of Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt.
16:16). Psalm 2:7, “I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, ‘You are my Son; today I
have begotten you,’” is cited three times in the New Testament and applied to Jesus.
In Hebrews, the writer is demonstrating how far superior Christ is to angels. He asks,
“For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you’?”
(Heb. 1:5). Then in showing that Christ as high priest after the order of Melchizedek (citing
Ps. 110:4) is better than the priests of the order of Aaron and Levi, he notes that Jesus did not
appoint himself, “but was appointed by him who said to him, ‘You are my Son, today I have
begotten you’ ” (Heb. 5:5), again quoting Psalm 2:7.
When Paul was invited to preach in the synagogue at Antioch of Pisidia on the first
missionary journey, he proclaimed Jesus as the hope of Israel, saying, “And we bring you the
good news that what God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by
raising Jesus, as also it is written in the second Psalm, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten
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you’ ” (Acts 13:32-33). Interestingly and significantly, Paul says the “today” on which God
says “I have begotten you” is the day of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Elsewhere Paul
speaks “concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was
declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection
from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1:3-4).
The second Psalm reads,
Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth set
themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his
anointed, saying, “Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us.”
He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision. Then he will speak
to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying, “As for me, I have set my
King on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are
my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your
heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod
of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.” Now therefore, O kings, be
wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with
trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and you perish in the way, for his wrath is
quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.
The “nations,” frequently translated “gentiles,” includes everyone except the Jews
who are “the people” of God. Because the nations in Old Testament times were pagan, the
KJV translates, “Why do the heathen rage?”
This pinpoints the time Christ began to reign. It was right after his death, brought on
by the Romans and Jews with the collaboration of Herod and Pilate, and his resurrection.
Then he ascended to take the throne at the right hand of God (Ps. 110:1): “but when Christ
had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God,
waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet” (Heb. 10:12-
13).
Some maintain that Christ intended to set up his kingdom at his first coming but was
thwarted by being rejected by the Jewish people and will instead establish it at his second
coming. They are directly contradicted by this psalm and its New Testament application. God
and Jesus did what they intended to do. Jesus’s rejection by the Jews and his crucifixion were
what God’s hand and plan had predestined to take place (Acts 4:28). It was “according to the
definite plan and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). Isaiah communicated some of the
details of God's plan in the Old Testament, long before the plan was actually carried out:
He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him
not. Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him
stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us
peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
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turned every one to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
(Isa. 53:3-6)
We, like Phillip, can begin at these Scriptures and preach Jesus, who suffered death
“so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone” (Heb. 2:9). He presently
reigns over his kingdom: “after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of
the Majesty on high” (Heb. 1:3). “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and
transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son” (Col. 1:13).
In heaven, John reports, they sang this song about the Lamb:
Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your
blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and
nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall
reign on the earth. (Rev. 5:9-10)
When Christ our king, at his second coming, “delivers the kingdom to God the Father”
(1 Cor. 15:24), we who are Christians will be among those people from every language and
nation presented to God, as Jesus says, “Here, Father, is the work you sent me to do.”
Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry,
and you perish in the way, for his wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take
refuge in him. (Ps. 2:11-12)
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “Crying out to God: Prayer and Praise in Psalms” -
2009, Cecil R. May Jr.: Christ as Davidic King. Pages 430-434.
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THE COMING KING
(James L. Meadows)
The prophets Haggai and Zechariah spoke after the children of Israel returned from
Babylonian captivity. In the first year of the reign of Cyrus he gave a decree that the Jews
could return to Palestine if they desired (2 Chron. 36:22-23). [All Scripture references are
from the King James Version unless otherwise noted.] In about 536 or 537 BC. Zerubbabel
let 50,000 Jews go back to Palestine to rebuild the temple. The work soon stopped and God
raised up Haggai and Zechariah to stir up the people to complete the work (Ezra 5:11-12;
6:14; Hag. 1:14).
“Zechariah has exercised a greater influence upon the Messianic picture of the New
Testament more than any other minor prophet” (Lewis 79). Lewis lists the following: (1) He
mentions the branch (Zech. 3:8, 6:12); (2) the king riding upon an ass (Zech. 9:9); (3) the
betrayal (Zech. 11:12); (4) the one they pierced (Zech. 12:10); (5) the smitten shepherd (Zech.
13:7); (6) the king who reigns (Zech. 9:10); and (7) the fountain for cleansing (Zech. 13:1)
(78-80).
MICAH 5:1-3
Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they
shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. But thou Bethlehem
Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he
come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of
old, from everlasting. Therefore, will he give them up, until the time that she which
travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the
children of Israel.
The chief priests and scribes told Herod that Jesus was to be born “... in Bethlehem
of Judaea; for thus it is written by the prophet” (Matt. 2:5-6). In the days of Jesus there
seemed to be widespread belief that he would be born in Bethlehem (cf. John 7:42).
The Coming One would go forth from Bethlehem “for me,” i.e., Yahweh. Just as
Yahweh provided for himself a king from among the sons of Jesse (1 Sam. 16:1), so
God would again provide a Ruler for his own redemptive purposes. Bethlehem’s ruler
would be devoted to the will of the Lord. He would in a special way belong to the
Lord. Yet at the same time he would be “ruler” over Israel. His authority would be
over all to which the term “Israel” could legitimately be applied. Under the New
Covenant Israel consists of all those who have put their faith in Jesus as Messiah (Gal.
6:15; Rom. 9:6-29). Over the church of Christ Jesus is absolute Ruler (Eph. 1:22;
5:23). (Smith 331)
ZECHARIAH 6:12-13
And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the
man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall
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build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he
shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest
upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” The Lord
speaks unto Zechariah and tells him to crown Joshua the high priest... In which,
Joshua, the high priest, is crowned and made typical of the Messiah-Branch-Priest-
King-the most composite and complete portion of the Coming One to be found in the
Old Testament. (Robinson 151)
But who is the Branch? That this righteous branch is Christ, there can be no question.
In the New Testament, he is called “the root of Jesse” (Rom. 15:12), which means
“descendent, branch of the family or stock.” Also, Christ is called “the root of David” (Rev.
5:5); Christ said of himself, “I am the root and the offspring of David” (Rev. 22:16). He is
king now (Rev. 17:14); his throne is “for ever and ever,” and the sceptre of his rule is the
“sceptre of uprightness (righteousness)” (Heb. 1:8). He sits upon the throne of David. David
said his son Solomon would sit on his throne (1 Kings. 1:35). Solomon sat upon the throne
of David (1Kings. 2:12). “Then Solomon sat on the throne of the Lord as king instead of
David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him” (1 Chron. 29:23). “The same
throne was Jehovah’s, David’s and Solomon’s. It was called Jehovah’s because he gave it
to David; David’s because it was limited to David’s family; Solomon’s because he, as
David’s son, sat upon it” (Hinds 9).
First, “He shall grow out of his place”—no doubt a reference to his being a root out
of dry ground (Isa. 53:2) and as living among his own people. Second, “he shall build the
temple of the Lord.” He shall build the church (Matt. 16:18) which is the temple (1 Cor. 3:16;
Eph. 2:18-21). Third, he “shall bear the glory.” Majesty, power, dominion, and might shall
be his. Fourth, he “shall sit and rule upon his throne.” Christ sits at God’s right hand now
(Heb. 1:3). He rules at God’s right hand now. “But unto the Son he saith, thy throne O God,
is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom” (Heb. 1:8).
Fifth, he “shall be priest upon his throne.” Christ is priest now. “Seeing then that we have a
great high priest, that is passed into the heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our
profession” (Heb. 4:14). Christ cannot be a priest on earth (Heb. 8:4). But he is priest on his
throne. Therefore, his throne cannot be on earth. Christ is priest now, and he is priest on his
throne. So, he is on his throne now. He is priest on his throne in heaven, therefore, his throne
is in heaven. Christ is a priest after the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 5:10). Therefore, he is
priest and king at the same time in heaven.
ZECHARIAH 9:9-10
Zechariah 9:9-10 is one of the clearest of Messianic prophecies. It sets forth some
characteristics of the king that was to come.
Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King
cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and
upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the
horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off: and he shall speak peace
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unto the heathen: and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river
even to the ends of the earth. (Zech. 9:9-10)
First, he is “just.” This little word “just” comprehends all virtues. He is just to himself,
to God, and to man. Second, he brings salvation. “For the Son of man is come to seek and
save that which is lost” (Luke 19:10). Third, he comes “riding upon an ass, and upon the colt
the foal of an ass.” This emphasizes his lowliness in opposition to the pomp and pride of
earthly rulers (Matt. 21:1-11). Fourth, the cutting off of the weapons of war indicates the
peaceful nature of his kingdom (Isa. 2:4). This was the message preached by Christ (Eph.
2:13-17). Fifth, there would be universal dominion from sea to sea. The outreaches of the
Messiah’s rule would be vast.
I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds
of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations,
and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which
shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. (Dan. 7:13-
14)
The great commission includes preaching to all the world (Matt. 28:19-20). Sixth,
“blood of the covenant” may well refer to Calvary. Judah and Israel had been one when God
made a covenant with blood at Mt. Sinai.
Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood. For when Moses
had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of
calves and of goats, with water, and scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the
book, and all the people, Saying, this is the blood of the testament which God hath
enjoined unto you. (Heb. 9:18-20)
God also made a new covenant with blood whereby all can enjoy the benefits through
faith and obedience. “For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for
the remission of sins” (Matt. 26:28).
But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more
perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; Neither
by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the
holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. For if the blood of bulls and of
goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of
the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit
offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve
the living God? (Heb. 9:11-14)
THE PREMILLENIAL COMING KING
There are at least two theories in connection with what has been termed the first and
second stages of the coming of Christ.
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The first stage is called the tribulation theory. Premillennialists assert that at the first
stage of our Lord’s coming the saints will ascend to meet the Lord and will remain with him
in heaven for seven years. During this period of time there will be a period of “great
tribulation.” They say Matthew 24:21 refers to this period. “For then shall be great tribulation,
such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” There
are some definite reasons why Matthew 24:21 does not refer to the tribulation idea and does
not refer to the second coming. Jesus tells the disciples to flee into the mountains (Matt.
24:16), but they will be in heaven according to the millennial theory. They are told to pray
that their flight not be in the winter time or on the Sabbath (Matt. 24:20).
The second stage is called the rapture theory. First Thessalonians 4:13-17 is one of
the key texts for this theory.
But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,
that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
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. 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: 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.
These verses are not discussing two resurrections, but the general resurrection. One
will observe the wicked dead are not mentioned here. Paul is assuring the Thessalonians that
their loved ones, who have died in the Lord, will be raised before the righteous living are
taken up. Both will go up together.
But on what grounds do they contend for two comings or two stages of the second
coming? They contend that two New Testament words teach this. “Parousia” means “his
presence” and “epiphaneia” means “his manifestation.”
The theory is that when the Lord comes ‘for his saints’, it will be the time of his
“presence”—the parousia. But when he comes ‘with his saints’, it will be the time of
his manifestation—the epiphaneia. And it is argued that there will be a seven year
period between the parousia and the epiphaneia. This period is what is called the
‘rapture’ of the saints in the heavens with the Lord, while the tribulation is blasting
out its fury on the earth. (Wallace 203)
The New Testament makes no distinction between the two words. The one hundred
forty-eight translators of the King James Version and the American Standard (1901) make
no distinction. Second Thessalonians 2:8 shows there is not a split second between the Lord’s
presence and manifestation. “To the end, he may establish your hearts unblameable in
holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his
saints” (1 Thess. 3:13). The word coming here is parousia. Paul said the Lord will come “with
all his saints” at the parousia, but the millennial theory says he will come “for his saints” at
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the parousia and “with his saints” at the epiphaneia. Thus Paul has the Lord coming “with
his saints” seven years too early according to the millennial theory.
CONCLUSION
The Bible clearly teaches that Christ is coming again. Jesus promised to return (John
14:1). The Bible teaches that the Lord’s coming will be personal (1 Thess. 4:16), visible
(Acts 1:9-11), audible (1 Thess. 4:16), and sudden (Matt. 24:43). It does not teach the time
of his coming (Matt. 24:36; Mark 13:32).
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “Proclamation and Promise: Major themes in the
Minor Prophets” - 2011, James L. Meadows: The Coming King. Pages 356-361.
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CHRIST ON DAVID’S THRONE -- ACTS 2:29-35
(James Maxwell)
The throne of David is the royal honor of David’s house (2 Sam. 7:14). Frequently,
“throne” in the Bible, especially the Old Testament, is used metaphorically for dignity, royal
honor and power (Hastings 932). One of the main problems in Christendom today appears to
be the premillennialist’s position that the throne of David is a literal throne to be occupied
on the earth.
To illustrate that the throne of David is not a literal throne to be sat on by Christ, one
can read Matthew 23:1-2 where Jesus said that the scribes and the Pharisees sat in “Moses’
seat.” Just as Christ did not mean that “Moses’ seat” was a literal physical chair, Peter, in
Acts 2, did not mean that David’s throne was a physical, literal throne.
Peter in Acts 2:29-35 compares and contrasts King David of old with Christ, David’s
promised seed. Therefore, just as David was exalted by God to sit on his throne to rule Israel,
Christ has been exalted by God to sit on his throne which is called the “throne of David.”
Jesus, Himself, emphasized that his Kingdom which includes his rule, and authority and
royalty, was not “of this world,” else his servants would fight to prevent him from being
“delivered to the Jews” (Jn. 18:36). [All scripture references are from the King James Version
unless otherwise noted.]
It is clearly understood that Peter taught in his message on the day of Pentecost,
following the resurrection and ascension of Christ, that Christ is now exercising his rule and
royalty on his throne, the throne of David. However, scores of people are confused about
Jesus’ reign because of a distortion of the meaning of the kingdom, the establishment of the
kingdom and the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies concerning the kingdom.
The major distortions of the Biblical picture of the kingdom and the throne of David
are among the Premillennialists. They believe that the kingdom, the throne of David and the
reign of Christ are future rather than present realities. They believe that Christ will not rule
on the throne of David until he returns at the end time (second time) when he shall set up his
kingdom on earth and rule for a thousand years, according to Revelation 20:4; 12:5. They
believe that Satan will be bound at this time, a period of earthly peace will exist (Rev. 20:1-
12), and that in the Old Testament this period is described as the period of the Kingdom of
heaven (Dan. 2:44; 7:13-14). Isaiah 11 is the key to the Old Testament passage which tells
of the peace and righteousness of this age.
It is also believed that Israel shall be restored and converted, and it shall have a
prominent place in the millennial kingdom (Zech. 8:20-23; Acts 1:6) (Kirban 18).
THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE KINGDOM
Daniel prophesied the coming of the kingdom by interpreting the dream of
Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon. In this dream the king saw a great image whose head was
of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet of both iron
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and clay. The head of gold represented King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian empire
(Dan. 2:38), the breast and arms of silver symbolized the Grecian empire, the belly and thighs
of brass symbolized the Medo-Persian empire and the feet of iron and clay represented the
Roman Empire.
A “stone” is also seen in the dream, “cut out without hands, smoting the image upon
his feet” (Dan. 2:34). It appears that the stone is Christ who smote the Roman Empire, and
therefore, caused the structure of pagan domination of God’s people to crumble.
Daniel beautifully foretold the same four worldwide empires through the imagery of
the “four great beasts” (Dan. 1:1-7). The first beast is “like a lion,” and represents
Nebuchadnezzar’s empire. The second beast was “like a bear,” which represents the Medo-
Persian empire. The third beast is “like a leopard,” which would be the Grecian empire, and
the fourth beast, not named, but with iron teeth, is the Roman Empire. Kingdoms would rise
and fall as Daniel sees them, but “one like the Son of Man,” Christ, will establish the
everlasting kingdom for the saints of the Most High (Dan. 7:7-18).
To make his prophecy of the kingdom more clear as to “point in time,” Daniel
provides us with a he-goat that overcame a ram (Dan. 8:5- 8). This represented the Grecian
Kingdom which was the third kingdom. “The ram which thou sawest, that had two horns,
they are the kings of Media and Persia. And the rough he-goat is the king of Greece: and the
great horn that is between his eyes is the first king” (Dan. 8:20-21; KJV).
Daniel did not name the fourth kingdom, but we know it was the Roman Empire for
it followed in “point in time” like the third which was the Grecian empire. It is well described
in the interpretation of both as to its strength and as to its weaknesses. Although strong, it
was unable even through colonization and armies to weld the kingdom together so that it held
together of its own accord. In its latter days it was as iron and clay which did not mix, as
represented by the feet, for they did not cleave one to another. The Premillennialists agree
that the fourth kingdom was The Roman Kingdom (Bales 126-127).
We know that the kingdom was to be established during the first century because
Jesus preached the kingdom of God saying, “THE TIME IS FULFILLED, and the
KINGDOM OF GOD is at hand...” (Mk. 1:14- 15). Jesus said the time was fulfilled relative
to the establishment of the Kingdom. He said that the Kingdom is nigh. Therefore, the
kingdom is not AT HAND, but ON HAND. It is not NEAR, but it is HERE.
Not only do Premillennialists agree that the fourth kingdom referred to by Daniel is
the Roman Empire, they also agree that the kingdom was, indeed, ON HAND during the first
century. But in order to hedge around the issue, they project the POSTPONEMENT
THEORY smoke screen. Basically, this theory can be summed up in Dr. Bale’s statement:
“The premillennial view of the kingdom results in the position that the church which was at
hand got out of hand. The prophesied kingdom was not established, but the unprophesied
church was established” (Ibid., 94). It is maintained by Premillennialists that since Israel
refused to repent and accept Christ that the establishment of the kingdom was postponed until
the second coming of Christ, and that the church was established in its place.
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The Postponement theory is grossly false because:
1. It purports that Jesus did not fulfill his promise to establish the kingdom.
2. It denies that the kingdom and the Church are inseparable (Mt. 16:18-20). Since
the church may be defined as the people who come under the reign of God and
accept his rule in their lives (Col. 1:12-14), that makes the church one
manifestation, the present manifestation, of the kingdom of God” (Furguson 29)
3. It makes the church an accident rather than a part of God’s eternal purpose (Eph.
3:9-11).
4. It denies those passages that refer to the era of the “last days” beginning at
Pentecost (Isa. 2:2-4; Acts 2:16-17; Heb. 1:1).
5. It denies that the kingdom was established during the lifetime of the apostles on
Pentecost when the power came (Mk. 9:1; Lk. 24:49; Acts 1:4-8; 2:1-4).
6. It denies that Peter used the “keys to the kingdom” if the Kingdom was not
established during his lifetime (Mt. 16:18-20; Acts 2:17-37).
7. It denies that the Hebrew writer told the truth when he said he and the Christians
whom he wrote had received a kingdom which cannot be moved (Heb. 12:28).
8. It denies that the apostle Paul told the truth when he claimed that he and the
Colossian Christians had been translated into the kingdom (Col. 1:13), and that
John told the truth when he claimed that he was “in the kingdom and patience of
Jesus Christ...” (Rev. 1:9).
9. It denies that at the end Christ is coming again to “deliver up the kingdom” to the
Father, but that he will set up his kingdom. It denies that Christ will put down all
rule, but take up his rule; put down all authority, but take up all authority; put
down his power, but take up his power (1 Cor. 15:24).
THE THRONE OF DAVID ISSUE
Premillennialists accept the Scriptural prophecies and references regarding the throne
of David as meaning Christ is not, now, spiritually reigning on the throne of David in his
kingdom, but that he will literally assume his reign on the throne of David on earth at his
second coming. If Jesus is presently a King, he must of necessity possess a kingdom and a
throne. Daniel 7:13-14 depicts Jesus as “coming with the clouds” (ascending) to God to
receive a kingdom. Jesus in Luke 19:11-15 is pictured as a nobleman going away to receive
the kingdom and returning AFTER HAVING RECEIVED IT. He went away to receive it,
he did receive it, and returned having already received it. Verse 15 says, “When he was
returned, having received the Kingdom.” When Jesus ascended to heaven, Daniel said that
he went “with the clouds” to the Ancient of days and there was given him a Kingdom.” the
nobleman (Christ) “went into a far country (heaven) to receive a Kingdom” and after having
received it, he will return. So according to the passages cited, Jesus will not return to receive
the Kingdom; he went to receive the Kingdom, and will return for the judgment of his
servants (Wallace 203-204).
The Bible is replete with many other quotations about Jesus’ spiritual rule on the
throne of David. I believe that the following are among the most potent arguments in God’s
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Word, several of which were gleaned from W. L. Olipahant’s debate arguments in his debate
with John R. Rice (Oliphant-Rice Debate 28):
1. Jesus was to be a priest on his throne (Zech. 6:13). He is NOW a priest (Heb.
4:14) therefore, he is NOW on his throne. Jesus was on his throne when “sitting”
(Zech. 6:13). He is “sitting” NOW (Eph. 1:20), therefore, he is on his throne
NOW.
2. It was promised to David that “When thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep
with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee which shall proceed out of thy
bowels, and I will establish his Kingdom” (2 Sam. 7:12; also read I Chron. 17:11).
On the day of Pentecost, Peter quoted this promise and showed that it was fulfilled
in the resurrection, ascension and exaltation of Christ (Acts 2:29-35).
3. In Psalms 45:6, 7, the establishment of Christ’s throne and Kingdom is predicted.
In Hebrews 1:8, 9, this prediction is quoted and declared to have been fulfilled.
4. In Psalms 110, it is predicted that the day of Christ’s power would be when he sits
at God’s right hand (Acts 2:33), and now rules in the midst of his enemies (1 Cor.
15:25, 26). He is NOW priest after the order of Melchizedic (Heb. 5:6; 7:17),
therefore, this is “the day of his power.”
5. In Ezekiel 21:26, 27, it was prophesied that the royal dynasty of David would be
restored when “He comes whose right it is.” Luke 1:30-33 proclaims Jesus to be
the one “whose right it is,” and Acts 2:29-34 assures us that he is exercising that
right to be raised up to sit on the throne of David.
It should be observed that the premillennialist has to base his main concepts of the
reign of Christ, and the throne of David on Old Testament prophecies which are taken out of
context. The question that no premillennialist will provide a correct answer for is, “Why does
the New Testament, our authority today, never speak of Christ ruling on the throne of David
as being in the future, if it is in the future?” The reason that such a passage cannot be found
is because all passages refer to the throne as a reality now in existence.
PROPHETIC MILLENNIAL PROOF-TEXTS AS PRETEXT
Several passages, mainly in the Old Testament, are used as prooftexts to substantiate
millennial theories. Hal Lindsey cites several passages in Isaiah to be descriptive of the
millennium which is called “the golden age” by many millennium proponents. Written upon
the cornerstone of the United Nations building is a major proof-text used by Premillennialists:
“...they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nations
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more” (Isa. 2:4).
Lindsey describes this passage in There’s A New World Coming, as speaking of “the time
when the Messiah would reign over the earth out of Jerusalem and judge between the nations
in a visual, actual, and historic Kingdom of God on earth” (169).
Lindsey cites Isaiah 11:6 where it says the wolf shall lie down with the lamb. He says,
there will be justice for all; the wicked will be immediately punished and the whole world
will be filled with the knowledge of God (Isa. 11:9). In order for man to inhabit the ravaged
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earth during the Millennium, it will first have to be restored by Jesus. That means that the
whole animal and vegetable worlds will be at their highest state of development. Man will
not have marred it with the refuse of his selfish activities. The sky will be bluer, the grass
will be greener, the flowers will smell sweeter, the air will be cleaner, and man will be happier
than he ever dreamed possible! (There’s A New World Coming 270-271).
In Lindsey’s warped and literal interpretation of the millennium, he uses Zechariah
14:9; 16-21 to teach that Jesus, himself, will rule from the capital city, Jerusalem, and there
will be a perfect, one-world government (Lindsey 270). He also tries to prove that the Jews
will be restored to their land, Palestine, and their spiritual conversion will take place by citing
such passages as Ezekiel 36-38 chapters, and he uses chapters 12 through 14 of Zechariah to
prove that a temple will be built in Palestine (The Late Great Planet Earth 51-62). Kirban
Salem argues that Jeremiah 23:7-8 teaches that Israel will be regathered in their Promised
Land (Kirban 277). Premillennialists use many other prooftexts, but the ones just mentioned
are the most frequently used.
RIGHT QUOTATION, WRONG INTERPRETATION RIGHT TEXT, WRONG
CONTEXT
The best way to reveal the error of false Scriptural interpretation is to do like Philip
in his encounter with the Ethiopian Eunuch (Acts 8:26- 39). Philip went to the same quotation
and text the Ethiopian was reading and beautifully gave him the right interpretation and
context.
ISAIAH 2:2-4, ISAIAH 11:1-9
Premillennialists use the above passages to describe the peace and tranquility that
they feel will exist in the millennium. Judging between the nations and deciding between
many nations as Isaiah 2:3 denotes has reference to God’s reconciling Jews and Gentiles into
one nation in Christ with the New Testament as the standard of judgment. The beating of
swords into plowshares and the spears into pruning hooks, and learning war no more are
figures of speech denoting that the ill will and division between the Jews and Gentiles would
be removed through the death of Christ and the gospel of Christ (Eph. 2:14-16).
In Isaiah 11, the purpose of the prophetic imagery of the wolf dwelling with the lamb,
the leopard with the kid, and the little child to lead them, is to describe the evil and violent
passions of men who are not children of God. But when those men are walking according to
Christ, the rod out of the stem of Jesse, and the Branch, they will be so loving and humble
until a child could lead them. Isaiah’s prophecy was to be fulfilled in the New Testament
Church, and his specific statement concerning the knowledge of the Lord being spread “as
the waters covering the earth” was fulfilled during the apostolic age (Col. 1:23), and is yet
being fulfilled today in the Church.
JEREMIAH 23:5-8 (THE LAND PROMISE AND RESTORATION)
It is believed that the above passage and others teach that the Jews were to be restored
to their land and return as a nation. Jeremiah is prophesying the coming of Christ, “THE
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LORD, OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS,” and his work of redemption of uniting fallen (scattered)
Israel in the New Testament Church. Isaiah mentions in Isaiah 62:1-3 that the Gentiles would
also be included in the Church.
I deem it necessary to give the background of God’s land promise to Israel, and its
fulfillment in order to show, without doubt, the errors of Premillennialists. I want to say in
the outset that there is not a single promise given to the Jews as a nation which has not been
fulfilled, or denied, depending on Israel’s obedience to God. God promised Abraham, “For
all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed forever” (Gen. 13:15).
Their promise has been fulfilled already and God does not plan to restore the Jews to the
land. This is emphatically taught in Joshua 21:43-45,
And the Lord gave unto Israel ALL THE LAND which he swore to give unto their
fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. And the Lord gave them rest round
about, according to all that he swore unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of
all their enemies before them; the Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand.
There failed not ANY GOOD THING which the Lord had spoken unto the house of
Israel; ALL CAME TO PASS.
In order to get around Joshua’s plain statement, Premillennialists mention that the
promise was to be everlasting (Gen. 17:7-8). “Everlasting” and “forever” are sometimes used
to mean the duration of a specific period. For example, a new slave was to serve his master
forever which meant throughout his life (Deut. 15:17). the covenant of circumcision was to
be an everlasting covenant (Gen. 17:13). Yet, circumcision has been abolished and avails
nothing, spiritually, in Christ (Rm. 2:28-29; Gal. 5:1-6) (Bales 231). The promise to Israel
was also conditional. God gave them the land and told them that if they would obey him,
they would continue to dwell in the land and be blessed by him, but if they were disobedient
they would be “destroyed,” “brought to naught,” “plucked from off the land,” and “spoiled”
(Deut. 28:1, 2, 15, 62, 63;. also, read Deut. 30:18-20) (Oliphant-Rice Debate 137).
CHAPTERS 36 AND 37 OF EZEKIEL
These chapters do not teach that the Jews will be restored to their land after Christ
returns and initiates the millennium. Chapter 36 teaches that after the Babylonian captivity
there would be no further political distinction between Israel and Judah, and that they would
have no earthly kings. They would have one King, Jesus Christ.
Chapter 37 deals with the valley full of dry bones that were connected together, took
on flesh and were made to live again by the Spirit and Word of the Lord (verses 1-4). Also,
chapter 37 reveals how the sticks for Judah and the children of Israel, for Joseph, for Ephraim,
and for all the house of Israel were joined together into one stick (verses 15-19). These two
pictorial images show that God was to join together the dry bones (house of Israel, 37:11)
and the sticks of the scattered and divided Jews and “bring them into their land” (verse 21).
Then God said:
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And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, and one
King shall be king to them all, and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall
they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all ... and David my servant shall be
king over them; and they shall have one shepherd... (verses 22, 24).
There are two unmistakable conclusions to draw from these prophetic utterances.
First, after the return from exile there would no longer exist a separate Israel from Judah, and
neither would have a temporal king; second, the temporal Israel and all that it was with its
kingdom and throne would give way to a new spiritual Israel with Jesus Christ, the new
David, as their king (Wallace 508).
CHAPTER 12-14 OF ZECHARIAH
Chapters 12-14 of Zechariah have reference to that period beginning with the personal
ministry of Christ going through Pentecost and concluding with the destruction of Jerusalem
in A.D. 70 (Oliphant- Rice Debate 137). Zechariah 13:1 speaks of the fountain opened in
Jerusalem for sin and uncleanness. This undeniably, refers to Christ. Zechariah 13:2 speaks
of the unclean spirits passing out of the land which refers to Jesus casting out unclean spirits
during his personal ministry. Zechariah 13:6 speaks of one with wounded hands in the house
of friends. Of course, Jesus’ hands were wounded (Jn. 20:25). None of this refers to the
second coming of Christ.
Zechariah 14:1 mentions that the day of the Lord coming to gather all nations against
Jerusalem to battle, and destruction of people and property was to take place. The Lord was
to fight against those nations, and he was to stand on the Mount of Olives near Jerusalem,
and Zechariah said, “...the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee” (Zech.
14:5). This does not refer to the establishment of Christ’s Kingdom, nor to his second coming.
The fulfillment of this part of Zechariah’s prophecy was when Titus in A.D. 70, led the
Roman army composed of men from all nations, seized Jerusalem and destroyed it. “And the
land shall mourn, every family apart” (Zech. 12:12). “And ye shall flee to the valley of the
mountains” (Zech. 14:5). “Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet,
and their eyes shall consume away in their holes and their tongue shall consume away in their
mouth” (Zech. 14:12). The destruction of Jerusalem was mentioned by Jesus in Matthew
24:21 and Luke 21:23.
ESCHATOLOGICAL CLARIFICATION
Another thing for those who believe that the throne of David is to be occupied by
Christ when he comes the second time is Paul’s statement that Christ will reign until the last
enemy called “death” is destroyed (1 Cor. 15:24-26). Since DEATH still exists, this means
that the kingdom still exists and that Christ is still reigning in his kingdom.
Since the second coming of Christ will involve the resurrection of ALL in the grave,
righteous and wicked, the judgment of the righteous and wicked, and the destruction of the
earth, Christ cannot set up his kingdom on earth and rule a thousand years as believed by so
many. Premillennialists claim that 1 Corinthians 15:50-54 and 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17 speak
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of the RAPTURE, thus believing that there are two resurrections, one of the righteous rapture
and the other of the wicked dead.
Premillennialists believe that those saints who are “raptured” are given heavenly
bodies, and that there will be another resurrection at the end when Christ returns. This
projects two resurrections of the dead. In Acts 23:6 and 24:15 Paul refers to the resurrection
of “the” dead, both in singular number. Notice two parallel passages that show that the dead,
wicked and righteous, shall rise together.
And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting
life, and some to everlasting contempt” (Dan. 12:2). “Marvel not at this: for the hour is
coming, in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they
that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the
resurrection of damnation (Jn. 5:28-29).
The term “rapture” (meaning “snatched out”) is not a biblical term, however, 1
Corinthians 15:50-54 and 1 Thessalonians 4:10-17 speak of those Christians who are alive at
Christ’s second coming, and that they will be changed without experiencing natural death.
Biblically speaking, the so-called “rapture” will occur in conjunction with the resurrection of
the dead. The living and faithful Christians will be changed in the twinkling of an eye and be
caught up to meet the Lord in the air, but the dead in Christ shall, then, be raised also.
When Jesus comes the second time it will be impossible for the people to continue to
live on earth or for the Kingdom of Christ to be set up on the earth for a thousand years
because the earth will be destroyed and the elements dissolved (2 Pet. 3:10-12). Some
Premillennialists agree with this, but contend that there will be a new heaven and new earth
to take the place of the old. There is no passage in the Bible that says that at the second
coming of Christ He is going to set foot on THE EARTH. Rather, Jesus is to meet the saints
IN THE AIR. Not only is this true of the LIVING SAINTS when Christ returns, BUT ALL
THOSE WHO ARE DEAD IN CHRIST, ALSO. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 to the
Christians in the Thessalonian church, “WE...shall meet the Lord in the air: and so WE shall
ever be with the Lord.” Paul and the Christians he addressed are now dead; thus, not only the
“raptured” will meet Christ in the air when he comes, BUT ALL THE DEAD IN CHRIST,
ALSO.
The “new heaven and the new earth” is an expression which is symbolic of heaven,
itself, wherein dwells righteousness (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 20:11).
CONCLUSION
When Peter preached the gospel on the day of Pentecost, he quoted the prophets (Psa.
16:8-1; 132:11; 2 Sam. 7:12; Psa. 89:3; 110:1) that Jesus, as the seed of David, would be
resurrected from the dead and exalted and placed at the right hand of God (Acts 2:33). This
was when Jesus’ rule and reign began on the throne of David in his kingdom church. This
was the time when Peter used the gospel keys (Mt. 16:19) in order to instruct men as to the
way of salvation and entrance into the Lord’s Kingdom and/or into his Church (Acts 2:41).
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Why cannot men see that Christ is NOW ruling from his throne in heaven-rather than
WILL RULE from his throne on earth (Acts 2:34; 7:49)? These passages teach that heaven
is NOW Jesus’ throne and the earth is his footstool. Christ’s THRONE was never intended
to be occupied on earth for one year, let alone a thousand years. Why cannot men see this?
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “At His Coming” - 1998, James Maxwell: Christ on
David’s Throne now? Acts 2:29-35. Pages 267-277.
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DOES CHRIST OCCUPY DAVID’S THRONE NOW?
(Frederic R. Howe)
Professor of Systematic Theology, Emeritus
Dallas Theological Seminary Dallas, TX
I. INTRODUCTION
The Lord Jesus told the church of the Laodiceans, “To him who overcomes I will
grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my Father on His
throne (Rev 3:21, italics added). Clearly Jesus is currently seated on a throne. A controversy
exists among Dispensationalists today concerning the throne on which Jesus is seated.
Classic Dispensationalists say this is the Father’s throne, and that Jesus’ seating on His own
throne (“My throne,” Rev 3:21) is yet future. The Davidic rule of the Son of God is not yet.
Progressive Dispensationalists (PDs), however, suggest that Jesus is already seated on the
Davidic throne. In fact, PDs say that Jesus is currently ruling as the Davidic King. In this
paper, we will consider the claims of both positions.
II. A FUTURE-ONLY REALIZATION
The reality of the biblical promise of 2 Sam 7:14-16 is confirmed in the announcement
by the angel Gabriel to Mary, recorded in Luke 1:31- 33. In that affirmation, the angel assured
Mary that Jesus would receive the throne of David, and that He would rule. As the incarnate
ministry of Jesus Christ unfolded, the nearness of the kingdom was demonstrated, and yet
sadly so too was its rejection by Israel. Matthew 19:28 is a focal passage, for it states: “And
Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man
sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on the twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” The implication of this text seems obvious; it will be in
the regeneration (palingenesis, new world) that Christ will sit on His glorious throne, and this
does not refer in any sense to a present occupancy by the Lord Jesus Christ of the Davidic
throne. Possibly one of the most concise defenses of this “future only” realization is found in
H. C. Thiessen’s book Lectures in Systematic Theology:
Under the figure of the nobleman, Christ is represented as going “to a distant country
to receive a kingdom for Himself” (Luke 19:12). Just as Archaelaus, on the death of
his father Herod, had to go to Rome to have the kingdom confirmed to him before he
could actually rule as king, so Christ had to return to heaven to receive the kingdom
from the Father (Dan. 7:13f.). The kingdom was pledged to him by the angel Gabriel
(Luke 1:32f.), but it must not be overlooked that the Word says, “The Lord God will
give Him the throne of His father David.” For this purpose he went back to heaven.
But as with Archaelaus, Christ did not establish his throne in the far country, but he
will return to the scene from which he departed, and there set up his kingdom. Jesus
is now seated, not upon David’s throne, but upon his Father’s throne (Rev. 3:21). The
time will come when he shall sit upon his own throne (Matt. 19:28; 25:31). After he
has thus come in glory, he will say to those on his right hand, “Come you who are
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blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world” (Matt. 25:34).
This analogy seems viable and realistic to this writer. Adherents of the “future only”
realization of the Davidic promise do not deny the Lordship of Christ, and the fact that He is
“the same, yesterday, today and forever.” As Charles Ryrie succinctly states:
Though He never ceases to be King and, of course, is King today as always, Christ is
never designated as King of the church (Acts 17:7 and 1 Timothy 1:17 are no
exceptions, and Revelation 15:3, “King of saints,” KJV, is “King of nations” in the
critical texts). Though Christ is a King today, He does not rule as King. This awaits
His second coming. Then the Davidic kingdom will be realized (Matt. 25:31; Rev.
19:15,
III. PRESENT AND FUTURE REALIZATIONS: PROGRESSIVE

DISPENSATIONALISTS
In recent years, some PDs have articulated exactly the opposite conclusion. PDs
suggest that the Davidic covenant promise of rulership has already been fulfilled, and that
Christ’s present session in heaven involves His occupancy of the Davidic throne. There will
also be a future reign on the earth in the millennial kingdom when the political aspects of the
Davidic covenant will be fulfilled. Darrell Bock presented specific reasons why this position
is advocated. A concise summary of this position is found as follows:
We need to note that the New Testament does indicate that the political aspects of
Jesus’ Davidic kingship will be fulfilled in the future. But earlier dispensationalists
tended to miss the fact that in biblical theology, the Davidic nature of Christ’s present
activity guarantees the fulfillment of all of the Davidic promise in the future,
including the national and political dimensions of that promise.
A key to this position is the thought that Christ’s present session in heaven is seen in
the specific light of the promise to David. These basic reasons are offered as to the Davidic
nature of Christ’s present activity. First, Acts 1:3 is cited. Bock reasons that the disciples
were expecting the restoration of the kingdom of Israel (Acts 1:6), and that kingdom was the
Davidic kingdom. Jesus did not deny the validity of their inquiry, but affirmed that His rule
is within the Father’s control. Second, several passages are cited in support of the concept
that Christ’s present activity in heaven is within the sphere of the Davidic covenant. These
are Matthew 24; Acts 3:21; Rom 11:26; Heb 2:5; and 2 Tim 4:1.
Third, it is affirmed that Christ’s present session in heaven is a Davidic blessing. And
this is what the NT declares to have been granted to Jesus, Son of David.5 A line of evidence
is given also for this position from Matt 28:18. Bock explains that those who object to the
Davidic rule in heaven now as fulfillment of the Davidic covenant fail
…to understand the divine human unity of Christ’s person, as well as how that unity
fulfills the converging prophecies of divine messianic rule in the eschatological
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kingdom of God…Added to this is the fact that His humanity is not generic; He is a
descendant of David who has been anointed, enthroned, and given “all authority in
heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18). When he acts, He acts as the divine and Davidic
King.
IV. EVALUATION OF BOTH VIEWS
In the opinion of this writer, the biblical evidence points clearly in the direction of the
first view, namely, that the Davidic throne promises will be fulfilled in the future, and that
Christ’s present session in heaven does not represent rulership on the Davidic throne. A
central passage that can be of help in this evaluation is found in Rom 1:3-4. The text states:
“concerning His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to
the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness,
by the resurrection from the dead.”
Notice closely that in the contrast between the two realms, the human nature of the
Theanthropic person of the Lord Jesus Christ is from the line or seed of David. However, His
human nature is a true human nature, and indeed it is generic as well as Davidic (in
contradistinction from Bock’s statement that Christ’s humanity is not generic). The term
“generic” simply means or describes an entity that relates to a whole group or class. The
Lukan genealogy demonstrates our Lord’s descent all the way back to Adam, the generic
head of the human race. Historic orthodox Christology has articulated the miracle and
mystery of the Godman, and orthodox theologians have defended the truth that Christ’s
human nature is genuine, an essential human nature, inherited from Adam, yet without sin in
view of the miraculous conception and virgin birth.
The point of bringing this matter up at this juncture is immediately seen in the contrast
between “the seed of David according to the flesh,” and “declared to be the Son of God with
power according to the Spirit of holiness.” If ever there was a place to insert or to assume the
concept that Christ was granted the throne of David at the ascension, it surely could have
been here. Yet, the text itself shows that He is not declared Son of David, but Son of God
with power. To be sure, this is an argument from silence. However, in this writer’s opinion,
it is highly significant that as seated at the right hand of the Majesty on High, the term “Son
of God” is the central and key term. John Murray captured the importance of this text as
follows:
Thus, when we come back to the expression “according to the Spirit of holiness,” our
inference is that it refers to that stage of pneumatic endowment upon which Jesus
entered through his resurrection. The text, furthermore, expressly relates “Son of God
with power according to the Spirit of holiness” with “the resurrection from the dead”
and the appointment can be none other than that which came to be by the resurrection.
The thought of verse 4 would then be that the lordship in which he was instated by
the resurrection is one all-pervasively conditioned by pneumatic powers. The relative
weakness of his pre-resurrection state, reflected on in verse 3, is contrasted with the
triumphant power exhibited in his post-resurrection lordship. What is contrasted is
not a phase in which Jesus is not the Son of God and another in which he is. He is the
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incarnate Son of God in both states, humiliation and exaltation, and to regard him as
the Son of God in both states belongs to the essence of Paul’s gospel as the gospel of
god. But the pre-resurrection and post-resurrection states are compared and
contrasted, and the contrast hinges on the investiture with power by which the latter
is characterized.
The present session of the Lord Jesus Christ is seen in the dignity of His presence at
the right hand of the Father, waiting for the culmination of events in time-space history
leading to His enthronement in fulfillment of the Davidic Covenant in the Father’s designated
time. This does not in the least take away from Christ’s authority, power, and sovereignty
now. The future fulfillment of the Davidic promise of kingly rule comes to full fruition in the
Millennium. This is vividly described in Jer 23:5: “Behold, the days are coming,” says the
Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and prosper,
and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth.”
V. CONCLUSION
The Lord Jesus is currently seated at the right hand of the Father on a throne. In this
writer’s opinion, He is seated as the Son of God ascended and glorified. He now awaits the
triumph of His being seated on David’s throne in the millennial kingdom. The Lord is in no
sense sitting on the throne of David today. He is not currently ruling as the promised Davidic
King.
It is profitable to ponder the significance of 2 Pet 3:13-14 in the light of future events.
After stating truth about the coming day of God accompanied by events which are believed
to be even following the Millennium (the destruction of the present earth), Peter urges
believers with these words: “Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent
to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless.” This strong appeal to believers
right now in the present church age is made, even in the light of events that, prophetically
speaking, are in the distant future, even past the Millennium. The entire eschatological sweep
forms a fitting basis for a holy life even at the present time. This vantage point puts
discussions about the kingdom into a balanced and proper framework. It makes an urgent
appeal to participants in discussions about these issues to keep balance, and to engage in the
discussions with Christian courtesy and mutual respect, even amongst the differing viewpoint
holders’ concepts, thus fulfilling Rom 12:10: “Be kindly affectionate to one another with
brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another.”
Web source: https://faithalone.org/journal/2006i/6_howe.pdf
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THE BIBLICAL EVIDENCE THAT JESUS IS RETURNING TO REIGN: IS IT
SOLELY BASED ON REVELATION 20?
Many people mistakenly believe that the only scriptural basis of a Millennial reign of
Jesus is Revelation 20. But the concept of the Messiah returning to reign over all the earth in
peace, righteousness, and justice is found throughout the Scriptures, both New Testament
and Old.
I BELIEVE JESUS IS RETURNING TO REIGN ON EARTH BECAUSE THE OLD

TESTAMENT PROPHETS SAY SO.
1) The Psalms.
• Psalm 2:6-9 — David says the Messiah will reign over “the very ends of the earth”
from Mount Zion in Jerusalem.
• Psalm 22:27-31 — David again affirms that the Messiah will be given dominion over
“the ends of the earth” at the time when He “rules over the nations.”
• Psalm 47 — The sons of Korah rejoice over the day when the Lord will be “a great
King over all the earth,” and they state that this will take place when the Lord subdues
the “nations under our feet.”
• Psalm 67 — An unidentified psalmist speaks prophetically of the time when the
nations of the world will “be glad and sing for joy.” This will be when the Lord comes
to “judge the peoples with uprightness.” At that time the Lord will “guide the nations
on the earth” so that “all the ends of the earth may fear Him.”
• Psalm 89:19-29 — The psalmist, Ethan, speaks of the Davidic Covenant and
proclaims that it will be fulfilled when God makes His “first-born the highest of the
kings of the earth.”
• Psalm 110 — David says a time will come when God will make the enemies of the
Messiah a footstool under His feet. This will occur when the Messiah stretches forth
His “strong scepter from Zion.” At that time He will “rule in the midst of His
enemies,” for… “He will shatter kings in the day of His wrath, He will judge among
the nations.”
• Psalm 132:13-18 — An unnamed psalmist speaks of God’s fulfillment of the Davidic
Covenant. He says this will occur at a time when “the horn of David” springs forth to
reign from Zion. He says “His crown will shine,” and He will make Zion His “resting
place forever” for He will dwell there.
2) Isaiah.
• Isaiah 2:1-4 — Isaiah says that “in the last days” the Messiah will reign from Mount
Zion in Jerusalem and the entire world will experience peace.
• Isaiah 9:6-7 — The Messiah will rule from the throne of David, giving the world a
government of peace, justice, and righteousness. (Note: The throne of David is not in
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Heaven. It is located in Jerusalem — see Psalm 122. Jesus is not now on the throne
of David. He sits at the right hand of His Father on His Father’s throne — see
Revelation 3:21.)
• Isaiah 11:3b-9 — The Messiah will bring “righteousness and fairness” to the earth
when He returns to “slay the wicked.” At that time, the curse will be lifted and the
plant and animal kingdoms will be restored to their original perfection.
• Isaiah 24:21-23 — When the Messiah returns, He will punish Satan and his demonic
hordes in the heavens and then will punish “the kings of the earth, on earth.” He will
then “reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem” for the purpose of manifesting His
glory.
3) Jeremiah
• Jeremiah 23:5 — “‘Behold, the days are coming,’ declares the Lord, ‘when I shall
raise up for David a righteous Branch; and He will reign as king and act wisely and
do justice and righteousness in the land.'” (Note: The term, “Branch,” is a Messianic
title.)
• Jeremiah 33:6-18 — A day will come when the Lord will regather the dispersed of
both Judah and Israel and will save a great remnant. At that time the Lord “will cause
a rigthteous Branch of David to spring forth; and He shall execute justice and
righteousness on the earth.”
4) Ezekiel
• Ezekiel 20:33-44 — The Lord says a day will come when He will regather the Jews
to their land and will “enter into judgment” with them. He says that at that time “I
shall be king over you.” He then adds that “the whole house of Israel, all of them, will
serve Me in the land.”
• Ezekiel 37:24-28 — The Lord says that He will dwell in the midst of Israel after a
remnant of the Jews is regathered to the land and saved, and He promises that “David
My servant shall be their prince forever.”
• Ezekiel 39:21-29 — The Lord says that following the battle of Armageddon (verses
17-20), “I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My
judgment which I have executed, and My hand which I have laid on them.”
• Ezekiel 43:7 — While being given a tour of the future Millennial Temple, Ezekiel is
told by the Lord: “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place of the
soles of My feet; where I will dwell among the sons of Israel forever.”
5) Daniel
• Daniel 7:13-14,18,27 — Daniel says he was given a vision in which he saw the
Messiah (“Son of Man”) given dominion over all the earth by God the Father (“the
Ancient of Days”). And then he adds in verses 18 and 27 that the kingdom is shared
“with the saints of the Highest One,” and they are allowed to exercise sovereignty
with Him over “all the kingdoms under the whole heaven.”
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6) Hosea
• Hosea 3:4-5 — The Jews will be set aside “for many days,” but a time will come “in
the last days” when they “will return and seek the Lord their God and David their
king.”
7) Joel
• Joel 3:14-17,21 — Joel says that following the battle of Armageddon (verses 14-16),
the Lord will dwell “in Zion, My holy mountain.” He repeats this in verse 21. And in
verse 17 He identifies Zion as the city of Jerusalem.
8) Micah
• Micah 4:1-7 — Micah repeats in greater detail the prophecy contained in Isaiah 2.
Like Isaiah, he says the Lord will make Jerusalem the capital of the world. The world
will be flooded with peace and prosperity. All believing Jews will be regathered to
Israel, and “the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion.”
9) Zephaniah
• Zephaniah 3:14-20 — This entire book is devoted to a description of the day the Lord
will return to the earth in vengeance. The prophet says that at the end of that day,
when the Lord’s enemies have been destroyed, the Jewish remnant will shout in
triumphant joy because “the King of Israel, the Lord,” will be in their midst.
10) Haggai
• Haggai 2:20-23 — The Lord says that a day will come when He will “overthrow the
thrones of kingdoms and destroy the power of the kingdoms of the nations.” Then,
using Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, as a type of the Messiah, the prophet adds: “‘On
that day,’ declares the Lord of hosts, ‘I will take you, Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel,
my servant,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will make you like a signet ring, for I have
chosen you,’ declares the Lord of hosts.” The reference to the signet ring means the
Father will grant His Son ruling authority.
11) Zechariah
• Zechariah 2:10-13 — The Lord says that when He comes, He will “dwell in the
midst” of the Jews, possessing Judah as “His portion in the holy land” and again
choosing Jerusalem.
• Zechariah 6:12-13 — When the Messiah (“the Branch”) returns, He will build a
temple and “rule on His throne,” and the offices of priest and king will be combined
in Him. Thus, “He will be a priest on His throne.”
• Zechariah 8:2-3 — The Lord promises that when He returns to Zion, He will “dwell
in the midst of Jerusalem,” and Jerusalem will be called “the city of Truth.”<
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• Zechariah 9:10 — The Messiah will bring peace to the nations and “His dominion
will be from sea to sea.”
• Zechariah 14:1-9 — The Messiah will return to the Mount of Olives. The Mount will
split in half when His foot touches it, and the Jewish remnant left alive in Jerusalem
will flee the city and hide in the cleavage of the Mount. Verse 9 says that on that day,
“the Lord will become king over all the earth.”
I BELIEVE JESUS IS RETURNING TO REIGN OVER THE EARTH BECAUSE

THE NEW TESTAMENT PROPHETS SAY SO.
1) Peter
• Acts 3:21 — In his sermon on the portico of Solomon, Peter says Jesus must remain
in Heaven “until the period of the restoration of all things about which God spoke by
the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time.” The period of restoration spoken
of here will occur during the Millennium when the curse is partially lifted and nature
is restored (Romans 8:18-23).
2) Paul
• 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10 — Paul says that when Jesus returns “dealing out retribution
to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel,” He will also
come for the purpose of being glorified before His saints. The return of Jesus to be
glorified before His saints and all the nations of the world is one of the persistent
themes of Old Testament prophecy (Isaiah 24:23, Isaiah 52:10,13, Isaiah 61:3, and
Psalm 46:10).
• 2 Timothy 2:12 — Paul says “if we endure, we shall also reign with Him.”
3) John
• Revelation 12:5 — John sees a vision in which a sun clothed woman (Israel) gives
birth to a male child (Jesus) “who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron.”
• Revelation 19:15-16 — In his description of Jesus returning to earth, John says He
bears the title, “King of kings and Lord of lords,” and John says He will “rule the
nations with a rod of iron.”
• Revelation 20:4,6 — John says that after the return of Jesus to the earth, He will reign
with His saints (“those to whom judgment has been given”) for a thousand years.
I BELIEVE JESUS IS RETURNING TO EARTH TO REIGN BECAUSE THE

HEAVENLY HOST SAY SO.
1) Gabriel
• Luke 1:26-38 — When the archangel Gabriel appeared to Mary, he told her that she
would bear a son named Jesus who would be called “the Son of the Most High.” He
then added three promises that are yet to be fulfilled: “the Lord God will give Him
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the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and
His kingdom will have no end.”
2) The Four Living Creatures and the 24 Elders
• Revelation 5:9-10 — When John is raptured to Heaven and finds himself standing
before the throne of God (Revelation 4), he hears “the four living creatures” (special
angelic creatures called seraphim in Isaiah 6) and “the twenty-four elders” (probably
representative of the redeemed) singing a song of praise to Jesus. In this song they
say that Jesus is a Worthy Lamb who has made His redeemed a kingdom, “and they
will reign upon the earth.”
3) The Angels of God
• Revelation 11:15 — Voices from Heaven make a proleptic proclamation in the midst
of the Tribulation: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord,
and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever.” (Note: A proleptic statement
is one that speaks of a future event as if it has already occurred. This is a common
form of expression in prophecy because all future events are settled in the mind of
God as if they had already happened in history.)
4) The Tribulation Martyrs
• Revelation 15:3-4 — At the end of the Tribulation, right before the final pouring out
of God’s wrath in the form of the bowl judgments, all the Tribulation martyrs who
are in Heaven join together in singing “the song of Moses… and the song of the
Lamb.” In that song, they declare the Lamb (Jesus) to be the “King of the nations,”
and they proclaim that “all the nations will come and worship before Thee.”
• I believe Jesus is returning to reign on the earth because Jesus said so.
• Matthew 19:28 — Jesus said that during “the regeneration” (the same time as “the
period of restoration” referred to by Peter in Acts 3:21), He will “sit on His glorious
throne,” and the Apostles will join Him in judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
• Matthew 25:31 — Jesus said that when He returns in glory, “the Son of Man… will
sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him” for
judgment. The throne of Jesus is the throne of David which has always been located
in only one place — in Jerusalem (see Isaiah 9:6-7 and Psalm 122).
• Acts 1:3-6 — Luke says that Jesus spent 40 days teaching His disciples about the
kingdom of God. Then, as He was ready to ascend into Heaven, one of the disciples
asked, “Lord is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” The question
indicates that Jesus taught a time would come when the kingdom would be restored
to Israel. Jesus’ response to the question indicated the same thing. He did not rebuke
the question. Rather, He simply said it was not for them to know the times and seasons
when the kingdom would be restored to Israel.
• Revelation 2:26-27 — Jesus says that He has a special reward for any “overcomer”
who keeps His deeds until the end: “To him I will give authority over the nations; and
he shall rule them with a rod of iron.”
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• Revelation 3:21 — Jesus makes it clear that the overcomers will reign jointly with
Him: “He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as
I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.” Again, the throne of
Jesus is the throne of David (Luke 1:32 and Revelation 3:7). The throne of David is
in Jerusalem, not in Heaven (Psalm 122). Jesus currently shares His Father’s throne.
He is not sitting on His own throne and will not do so until He returns to this earth.
Then He will allow the redeemed to share His throne with Him.
Source: http://christinprophecy.org/articles/the-biblical-evidence-that-jesus-is-returning-to-
reign/
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THE TRUE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE “THRONE OF DAVID”
(Matt Davies)
At this time of year many people will have been going to nativity plays in churches
and schools. Many people will think briefly upon the impact of the birth and life of Jesus
Christ. Many will sing, read and hear about how the baby born in Bethlehem was to be a
great King but few will understand it’s true significance or the scope of what this truly means.
In this article, we take a quick look at the true meaning of the kingship of Christ and his
purpose in God’s plan for the earth.
Christ – “the king of the Jews”
“Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king,
behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, Saying, where is he that is
born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship
him.” Matthew 2:2.
We see here that Jesus Christ was born to be the King of the Jews. The wise men from
the east were awaiting his birth – probably from the teachings of the Jewish prophet Daniel
who, although captured and taken to Babylon, rose through the ranks to become an important
and influential figure in the Babylonian empire which was situated to the east of Israel. Jesus
Christ though was never accepted by the Jewish nation as their king. When they crucified
him, they were angry with Pilot for his words which were placed at the top of the cross:
“And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. And the writing was, JESUS OF
NAZARETH THE KING OF THE JEWS. This title then read many of the Jews: for
the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew,
and Greek, and Latin. Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, Write not, The
King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.” John 19:19-21.
Did Jesus Christ fail then if he was born to be ‘king of the jews’? No he did not as we
shall see.
The Angels Message to Mary
The well-known words of the angel to Mary hold some profound prophetic words:
“And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call
his name JESUS. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and
the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign
over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.” Luke
1:30-33
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We have here then a prophecy that Jesus Christ would be given the “throne of his
father David”. We read that when this throne is given to him his kingdom shall have “no
end”. What does this mean?
The Kingdom of God in the Past – the ‘throne of David’
To understand the prophecy of the angel an understanding of the Old Testament must
be obtained. God’s kingdom was in fact the ancient Kingdom of Israel. We can see this from
the following passages of scripture:
• The nation of Israel were God’s “kingdom” and he was their “king” allowing them to
inhabit “His land” – the land of Israel (see Isaiah 43:15, 44:6 , Exodus 19:5-6, Psalm
114:1-2, Ezekiel 36:5).
• Israel eventually wanted a man to be their king (1 Sam 8:7). These kings were only
ruling on behalf of God (2 Chron 9:8).
• In Chronicles, we read king David’s words:
• “And of all my sons, (for the LORD hath given me many sons,) he hath chosen
Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel.” 1
Chron 28:5
• David and his son Solomon were therefore rulers of the ‘Kingdom of God’ in the past.
These facts serve as a key which unlocks major parts of the New Testament as we shall
start to see as we continue.
The Kingdom of God Temporally Overturned
In Ezekiel, we read a prophecy against the last of the line of the Kings of this
Kingdom. This is what God said to king Zedekiah:
“…and thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall
have an end, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown:
this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will
overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it
is; and I will give it him.” Ezekiel 21:25-27.
So, we see that the Kingdom of God was only to be overturned for a limited time
“until he comes whose right it is”. There is then to be a ‘coming one’ who will have the
‘kingdom’ given to him – that Kingdom which King David of old sat on a throne governing.
There are plenty of prophecies in the old testament about the future revival of this past
Kingdom. Consider these:
“And in mercy shall the throne be established: and he shall sit upon it in truth in the
tabernacle of David, judging, and seeking judgment, and hasting righteousness.”
Isaiah 16:5
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“In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the
breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:”
Amos 9:11
“And the LORD shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land, and shall choose
Jerusalem again.” Zech 2:12
The message to Mary unlocked
With that Old Testament background, we can revisit and better understand that
message from the angel to Mary. Remember it was said of Christ that:
“…and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David” Luke 1:32
This was the ancient throne of the Kingdom of Israel which was over throne as we
saw in Ezekiel 21:27. That throne that King David of old sat on. A throne which governed a
literal territory on earth. That throne is to be given to Jesus Christ and when it is given to him
it will last forever. This was indeed promised to King David.
“And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up
thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his
kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his
kingdom for ever… And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever
before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.” 2 Samuel 7:12-17
So, this seed would do these things “before David” (a resurrection from the dead) and
that this future descendant would reign forever (e.g. be immortal!). The New Testament
opens with words which hint at this:
“The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.”
Matthew 1:1
We see then the importance of understanding who David was and the fact that Jesus
Christ was his descendant and therefore heir to the throne of the Kingdom of God in the past.
We read in the angel’s message to Mary:
“…he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever” Luke 1:33
This links in with the promise to David. The “house of Jacob” is a term which simply
means the descendants of Jacob. Jacobs name was changed to Israel in the Bible and he is
the father of the Jewish nation. So, this king will specifically be the “King of the Jews” and
rule over the ancient but literal Kingdom of Israel just as King David of old did.
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When does Christ become King?
Some people believe that Jesus is a king now but he has not been yet given the throne
of the Kingdom of Israel. He is currently set down at the right hand of Gods throne which is
different to the throne which will be set up when Jesus finally is given it upon the earth (see
Rev 3:21 for proof that there are two distinct thrones in this respect). Jesus has not yet restored
the Kingdom to Israel yet as we can see when the apostles asked him this question:
“When they therefore were come together, they asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou
at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” Acts 1:6
This question was asked after the death and resurrection of Christ and proves that it
was their earnest expectation that the Kingdom of Israel would once again be restored with
Jesus Christ as King. However, ‘then was not the time’ for Jesus replies:
“And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the
Father hath put in his own power.” Acts 1:7
The return of Christ to establish Gods Kingdom

The great message of the Bible is that Jesus will return from heaven to establish the
Kingdom of Israel. This was the promise of the angels to those apostles who saw Jesus go to
heaven. This is what they said to them:
“…while they (the apostles) looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold,
two men stood by them in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why
stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into
heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Acts 1:10-
11
So, Jesus is to return to restore this Kingdom which will eventually grow and take
over the whole earth (see Daniel 2). This Kingdom will be like the Kingdom of God in the
past, it will have a righteous King (Christ) a Capital city (Jerusalem or Zion), a law etc. and
it’s influence will grow until all nations have come into subjection to it. We read of this in
various places but here are a few passages to consider:
“And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall
in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” Daniel 2:44
“They shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all nations shall be gathered
unto it; neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.” Jer.
3:17
“And I will make… her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall
reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. And thou, O tower of
the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the
first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.” Micah 4:7-8
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The Kingdom of God in the past then will be re-established with Christ as it’s king –
but at this future time ALL nations will be in subjection to it. This Kingdom will bring peace
to the earth and all peoples will know about God and want to please Him. We are given a
few glimpses in the Bible of what this wonderful kingdom on earth will be like:
There will be such benefits for its citizens such as have never been seen before:
• A peaceful safe existence (Isaiah 2:4, 32:17, 65:21-22, Zechariah 8:4-5)

• A “righteous” system of justice (Isaiah 11:3-4, 32:1)
• Good health and long life (Isaiah 35:5,6, 65:20)
• A healthy earth which will produce an abundance of food (Joel 3:18, Amos 9:13,
Psalm 72:16, Zechariah 8:12, Isaiah 35:1, Ezekiel 36:34-35)
In this amazing Kingdom, we are told that “…the earth shall be full of the knowledge of
the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.” Isaiah 11:9.
Your part in God’s Kingdom
The Bible holds within it a wonderful message of hope. It offers you and I a chance
to be part of this future Kingdom which Christ is coming to establish. When one understands
the gospel message which contains the “things concerning the kingdom of God” and the
“name of Jesus Christ” and is baptized (Acts 8:12) this opens the way to a place in that
Kingdom on earth.
How different the message of the Bible is then with what most people associate with
Christianity and the birth of Christ. His birth was miraculous and amazing and we have only
looked at one aspect of Christ role in Gods purpose. However, we hope we have shown you
that there is more to this subject then stories. There is more to it than what even the churches
around proclaim. We encourage you to pick up your Bible and read it, and discover it’s true
and wonderful message for yourself. Why leave Jesus in the manger until the following year?
Get to know him and his purpose through Gods word, the Bible.
Source: http://www.the-gospel-truth.info/the-true-significance-of-the-"throne-of-david"/
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Daniel’s 70 Weeks
DANIEL’S 70
WEEKS
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. This is a prophecy directed to the Jewish people (Daniel 9:24).
2. “finish the transgression:” the Jews will open their hearts to their Messiah before
Daniel’s 490-year period ends.
3. “End of sin:” This end of sin will occur at the time the Jews accept their Messiah and
His earthly reign of righteousness begins; atonement will be applied when the Jews
accept Jesus as their Messiah.
4. “bring in everlasting righteousness:” This undoubtedly refers to the establishment of
the Messiah’s earthly reign when the earth will be flooded with peace.
5. “Seal up vision and prophecy:” the fulfillment of all prophecy concerning the
Messiah.
6. “the anointing of the most holy:” the anointing will not take place until the Lord
returns in response to the national repentance of the Jews.
7. The 70th is yet future, therefore, the 70 weeks are not fulfilled yet, only 69 weeks.
8. There is necessity of a gap in prophecy.
9. The final “seven” of Daniel is what we usually call the tribulation period.
Doctrine Defeated.
1. Christ would “finish transgression,” make an “end of sins,” and effect
“reconciliation for iniquity” (see Matthew 1:21; 20:28; 26:28; 1 Corinthians 15:3; 2
Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:20; 1 Peter 2:24;
Revelation 1:5).
2. “everlasting righteousness.” This obviously is a reference to the Gospel
dispensation (Roman 3:21-26) through the Gospel (Romans 1:16-17).
3. “Seal up vision and prophecy:” the need for vision and prophecy became obsolete
(1 Corinthians 13:8-13; Ephesians 4:11-16).
4. “The anointing of the most holy:” This is when Christ was anointed (Matthew
3:16; Acts 10:38).
5. The 70 weeks are already fulfilled.
6. The time: Beginning with 457 BC. (“the going forth of the commandment”) [Neh.
1:1-3; 22:1-6], add:
7 Weeks 49 Years (for the rebuilding of Jerusalem)
62 Weeks 434 Years (until the Messiah’s ministry)
1/2 Week 3.5 Years (until the crucifixion)
1/2 Week 3.5 Years (preaching the Gospel to the Jews)
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True
TRUE
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DANIEL’S PROPHECY OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS
(Wayne Jackson)
Jesus Christ emphatically declared that the Old Testament Scriptures contained
prophecies he would fulfill (Luke 24:27,44). Biblical scholars have catalogued more than
three hundred amazing prophecies that find precise fulfillment in the life and labor of the Son
of God. One of these predictive declarations is found in Daniel 9:24-27, commonly referred
to as the prophecy of “Daniel’s Seventy Weeks.” In this article, I would like to consider this
important Old Testament oracle.
A proper analysis of Daniel 9:24ff involves several factors. First, one should reflect
upon the historical background out of which the prophetic utterance arose. Second,
consideration should be given to the theological aspects of the Messiah’s work that are set
forth in this passage. Third, the chronology of the prophecy must be noted carefully; it
represents a prime example of the precision of divine prediction. Finally, one should
contemplate the sobering judgment that was to be visited upon the Jewish nation in the wake
of its rejection of the Christ. Let us give some attention to each of these issues.
The Historical Context
Because of Israel’s apostasy, the prophet Jeremiah had foretold that the Jews would
be delivered as captives to Babylon. In that foreign land, they would be confined for seventy
years (Jeremiah 25:12; 29:10). Sure enough, the prophet’s warnings proved accurate. The
general period of the Babylonian confinement was seventy years (Daniel 9:2; 2 Chronicles
36:21; Zechariah 1:12; 7:5). But why was a seventy-year captivity decreed? Why not sixty,
or eighty? There was a reason for this exact time frame.
The law of Moses had commanded the Israelites to acknowledge every seventh year
as a sabbatical year. The ground was to lie at rest (Leviticus 25:1-7). Apparently, across the
centuries Israel had ignored that divinely-imposed regulation. In their pre-captivity history,
there seems to be no example of their ever having honored the sabbath-year law. Thus,
according to the testimony of one biblical writer, the seventy years of the Babylonian
captivity was assigned “until the land had enjoyed its sabbaths” (2 Chronicles 36:21).
If each of the seventy captivity-years represented a violation of the sabbatical-year
requirement (every seventh year), as 2 Chronicles 36:21 appears to suggest, this would
indicate that Israel had neglected the divine injunction for approximately 490 years. The
captivity era therefore looked backward upon five centuries of sinful neglect. At the same
time, Daniel’s prophecy telescoped forward to a time—some 490 years into the future—
when the “Anointed One” would “make an end of sins” (9:24). Daniel’s prophecy seems to
mark a sort of midway point in the historical scheme of things.
In the first year of Darius, who had been appointed king over the realm of the
Chaldeans (ca. 538 B.C.), Daniel, reflecting upon the time-span suggested by Jeremiah’s
prophecies, calculated that the captivity period almost was over (9:1-2). He thus approached
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Jehovah in prayer. The prophet confessed his sins, and those of the nation as well. He
petitioned Jehovah to turn away his wrath from Jerusalem, and permit the temple to be rebuilt
(9:16-17). The Lord responded to Daniel’s prayer in a message delivered by the angel Gabriel
(9:24-27). The house of God would be rebuilt. A more significant blessing would come,
however, in the Person of the Anointed One (Christ), who is greater than the temple (cf.
Matthew 12:6). This prophecy was a delightful message of consolation to the despondent
Hebrews in captivity.
The Messiah’s Mission
This exciting context sets forth the primary purpose of Christ’s mission to Earth. First,
the Messiah would come to deal with the problem of human sin. He would “finish
transgression,” make an “end of sins,” and effect “reconciliation for iniquity.” That theme is
developed gloriously throughout the New Testament (see Matthew 1:21; 20:28; 26:28; 1
Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21; Galatians 1:4; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:20; 1 Peter
2:24; Revelation 1:5—passages that are but a fractional sampling of the New Testament
references to this exalted topic).
The advent of Christ did not put an end to sin in the sense that wickedness was
eradicated from the earth. Rather, the work of the Savior was to introduce a system that could
provide effectually and permanently a solution to the human sin predicament. This is one of
the themes of the book of Hebrews. Jesus’ death was a “once-for-all” event (see Hebrews
9:26). The Lord never will have to return to the earth to repeat the Calvary experience.
It is interesting to note that Daniel emphasized that the Anointed One would address
the problems of “transgression,” “sin,” and “iniquity”—as if to suggest that the Lord is
capable of dealing with evil in all of its hideous forms. Similarly, the prophet Isaiah, in the
fifty-third chapter of his narrative, revealed that the Messiah would sacrifice himself for
“transgression” (vv. 5,8,12), “sin” (vv. 10,12), and “iniquity” (vv. 5,6,11).
It is worthy of mention at this point that Isaiah 53 frequently is quoted in the New
Testament in conjunction with the Lord’s atoning work at the time of his first coming. Since
Daniel 9:24ff quite obviously has an identical thrust, it, too, must focus upon the Savior’s
work at the cross, and not upon Jesus’ second coming—as is alleged by premillennialists.
Second, in addition to his redemptive work in connection with sin, Daniel showed
that the Messiah would usher in an era of “everlasting righteousness.” This obviously is a
reference to the Gospel dispensation. In the pages of the New Testament, Paul forcefully
argued that Heaven’s plan for accounting man as “righteous” was made known “at this
present season” (Roman 3:21-26) through the Gospel (Romans 1:16-17).
Third, the angel’s message suggested that as a result of the Messiah’s work, “vision
and prophecy” would be sealed up. The Hebrew term denotes that which is brought to a
conclusion or is finished (Gesenius 1979, 315). It should be emphasized that the major burden
of the Old Testament was to proclaim the coming of God’s Son. Peter declared that the
prophets of ancient times heralded the “sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow
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them.” He affirmed that this message now is announced in the Gospel (1 Peter 1:10-12). Here
is a crucial point. With the coming of the Savior to effect human redemption, and with the
completion of the New Testament record which sets forth that message, the need for vision
and prophecy became obsolete. As a result, prophecy (and other revelatory gifts) have
“ceased” (see 1 Corinthians 13:8-13; Ephesians 4:11-16). There are no supernatural visions
and prophecies being given by God in this age. [For further study, see Chapter 5 of Judisch,
Jackson (1990, 114-124), and Miracles.]
Fourth, Daniel stated that the “most holy” would be anointed. What is the meaning of
this expression? Dispensational premillennialists interpret this as a reference to the rebuilding
of the Jewish temple during the so-called “millennium.” But the premillennial concept is not
supported by the facts.
Any view that one adopts regarding this phraseology must be consistent with other
biblical data. The expression “most holy” probably is an allusion to Christ himself, and the
“anointing” a reference to the Lord’s endowment with the Holy Spirit at the commencement
of his ministry (Matthew 3:16; Acts 10:38). Consider the following factors.
1. While it is possible that the grammar can reflect a “most holy” thing or place (i.e., in
a neuter form), it also can yield a masculine sense - “Most Holy One.” The immediate
context tips the scales toward the masculine since the “anointed one, the prince” is
mentioned in verse twenty-five.
2. The “anointing” obviously belongs to the same time frame as the events previously
mentioned, hence is associated with the Lord’s first coming, not the second one.
3. Thompson has observed that the act of anointing never was associated with the
temple’s “most holy” place in the Old Testament (1950, 268).
4. Anointing was practiced in the Old Testament period as a rite of inauguration and
consecration to the offices of prophet (1 Kings 19:16), priest (Exodus 28:41), and
king (1 Samuel 10:1). Significantly, Christ functions in each of these roles (see Acts
3:20-23; Hebrews 3:1; Matthew 21:5).
5. The anointing of Jesus was foretold elsewhere in the Old Testament (Isaiah 61:1),
and, in fact, the very title, “Christ,” means anointed.
Fifth, the Anointed One was to “make a firm covenant with many” (Daniel 9:27a, ASV).
A better rendition would be: “Make a covenant firm.” The meaning seems to be: The
Messiah’s covenant surely will remain firm, i.e., prevail, even though he is killed. The
“covenant,” as E.J. Young observed, “is the covenant of grace wherein the Messiah, by His
life and death, obtains salvation for His people” (1954, 679).
Sixth, as a result of Christ’s death, “the sacrifice and the oblation” would cease (9:27a).
This is an allusion to the cessation of the Jewish sacrifices as a consequence of Jesus’ ultimate
sacrificial offering at Golgotha. When the Lord died, the Mosaic law was “nailed to the cross”
(Colossians 2:14). That “middle wall of partition” was abolished (Ephesians 2:13-17), and
the “first covenant” was replaced by the “second” one (Hebrews 10:9-10). This was the “new
covenant” of Jeremiah’s famous prophecy (Jeremiah 31:31-34; cf. Hebrews 8:7ff), and was
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ratified by the blood of Jesus himself (Matthew 26:28). This context is a rich depository of
truth concerning the accomplishments of Christ by means of his redemptive work.
The Prophetic Chronology
The time element of this famous prophecy enabled the studious Hebrew to know when
the promised Messiah would die for the sins of humanity. The chronology of this prophetic
context involves three things: a commencement point, a duration period, and a concluding
event.
The beginning point was to coincide with a command to “restore and rebuild
Jerusalem.” The time span between the starting point and the concluding event was specified
as “seventy weeks.” This would be seventy weeks of seven days each—a total of 490 days.
Each day was to represent a year in prophetic history. Most conservative scholars hold that
the symbolism denotes a period of approximately 490 years (Payne 1973, 383; Archer 1964,
387; cf. RSV). Finally, the terminal event would be the “cutting off,” (i.e., the death) of the
Anointed One (9:26). [NOTE: Actually, the chronology is divided into three segments, the
total of which represents 486½ years. This would be the span between the command to restore
Jerusalem, and the Messiah’s death.]
If one is able to determine the date of the commencement point of this prophecy, it
then becomes a relatively simple matter to add to that the time-duration specified in the text,
thus concluding the precise time when the Lord was to be slain. Let us therefore narrow our
focus regarding this matter.
There are but three possible dates for the commencement of the seventy-week
calendar. First, Zerubbabel led a group of Hebrews out of captivity in 536 B.C. This seems
to be an unlikely beginning point, however, because 486 years from 536 B.C. would end at
50 B.C., which was eighty years prior to Jesus’ death. Second, Nehemiah led a band back to
Canaan in 444 B.C. Is this the commencement point for computing the prophecy? Probably
not, for 486 years after 444 B.C. ends at A.D. 42—a dozen years after the death of Christ.
However, in 457 B.C., Ezra took a company from Babylon back to Jerusalem. Does this date
work mathematically? Indeed. If one starts at 457 B.C., and goes forward for 486½ years,
the resulting date is A.D. 30—the very year of Christ’s crucifixion! This is the common view
(Scott 1975, 5.364).
The strongest objection to this argument is the claim that Ezra issued no charge to
rebuild the city of Jerusalem, and so the starting point of the prophecy could not date from
the time of his return. Noted scholar Gleason Archer has responded to this allegation by
affirming that Ezra’s commission
apparently included authority to restore and build the city of Jerusalem (as we may
deduce from Ezra 7:6,7, and also 9:9, which states, ‘God . . . hath extended
lovingkindness unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set
up the house of God, and to repair the ruins thereof, and to give us a wall in Judea
and in Jerusalem,’ ASV). Even though Ezra did not actually succeed in accomplishing
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the rebuilding of the walls till Nehemiah arrived thirteen years later, it is logical to
understand 457 B.C. as the terminus a quo for the decree predicted in Daniel 9:25
(1964, 387; emphasis in original).
In “the midst” of the seventieth week, i.e., after the fulfillment of the 486½ years, the
Anointed One was to be “cut off.” This is a reference to the death of Jesus. Isaiah similarly
foretold that Christ would be “cut off out of the land of the living” (Isaiah 53:8).
But why are the seventy weeks of Daniel’s prophecy divided into three segments—
seven weeks, sixty-two weeks, and the “midst” of one week? There was purpose in this
breakdown.
1. The first division of “seven weeks” (literally, forty-nine years) covers that period of
time during which the actual rebuilding of Jerusalem would be underway, following
the Hebrews’ return to Palestine (9:25b). This was the answer to Daniel’s prayer
(9:16). That reconstruction era was to be one of “troublous times.” The Jews’ enemies
had harassed them in earlier days (see Ezra 4:1-6), and they continued to do so in the
time of Ezra and Nehemiah. [For further discussion of this circumstance, see
Whitcomb 1962, 4435.]
2. The second segment of sixty-two weeks (434 years), when added to the previous
forty-nine, yields a total of 483 years. When this figure is computed from 457 B.C.,
it terminates at A.D. 26. This was the year of Jesus’ baptism and the beginning of his
public ministry.
3. Finally, the “midst of the week” (three and one-half years) reflects the time of the
Lord’s preaching ministry. This segment of the prophecy concludes in A.D. 30—the
year of the Savior’s death.
The Consequences of Rejecting Christ

No historical revisionism can alter the fact that the Lord Jesus was put to death by his
own people, the Jews (John 1:11). This does not sanction any modern-day mistreatment of
the Jewish people; it does, however, acknowledge that Israel, as a nation, suffered a serious
consequence as a result of its role in the death of the Messiah.
Daniel’s prophecy depicted the Roman invasion of Jerusalem and the destruction of the
Jewish temple. The prophet spoke of a certain “prince that shall come,” who would “destroy
the city and the sanctuary” like an overwhelming flood (9:26b). All of this was “determined”
(see 9:26b,27b) by God because of the Jews’ rejection of his Son (Matthew 21:37-41; 22:1-
7; see Young 1954, 679).
The interpretation of this portion of the prophecy is beyond dispute. Jesus, in his Olivet
discourse concerning the destruction of Jerusalem (Matthew 24:1-34), talked about “the
abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet” (24:15). The
Lord was alluding to Daniel 9:27. The “abomination that makes desolate” was the Roman
army, under its commander, Titus (“the prince”—9:26b), who vanquished Jerusalem in A.D.
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70. [NOTE: The “prince” of verse twenty-six is not the same as the anointed “prince” of
verse twenty-five. The prince of verse twenty-six comes after the anointed Prince has been
cut off.]
The historical facts are these. In A.D. 66, the Jews, who were subject to Rome, revolted
against the empire. This plunged the Hebrews into several years of bloody conflict with the
Romans. Titus, son and successor of the famous Vespasian, overthrew the city of Jerusalem
(after a five-month siege) in the summer of A.D. 70. The holy city was burned (cf. Matthew
22:7), and the “sanctuary” (temple) was demolished. Christ had informed his disciples that
the day was coming when the Jews’ “house” would be left desolate (Matthew 23:38); indeed,
not one stone would be left upon another (Matthew 24:2). Significantly, only one stone from
that temple, and parts of another, have been identified positively by archaeologists (Frank
1972, 249). J.N. Geldenhuys summarized this situation by noting that Titus
overran the city with his army, destroyed and plundered the temple, and slew the Jews—
men, women and children—by tens of thousands. When their lust for blood had been
sated, the Romans carried off into captivity all the able-bodied remnant of the Jews (for
they had done away with all the weaklings and the aged), so that not a single Jew was left
alive in the city or its vicinity. Only on one day in the year—the day of remembrance of
the destruction of the temple—were they allowed to mourn over the city from the
neighboring hill-tops (1960, 141).
This event was referred to by Daniel as the “abomination of desolation” because the city
of David was desolated by the Roman army—an abominable force because of its idolatrous
fabric. It is not without considerable interest that apparently even the Jews recognized that
the destruction of the Hebrew nation was a fulfillment of Daniel’s remarkable prophecy.
Josephus, the Jewish historian, stated that “Daniel also wrote concerning the Roman
government, and that our country should be made desolate by them” (Antiquities of the Jews
X.XI.7).
Conclusion
Daniel’s inspired record regarding the “seventy weeks” is a profound demonstration

of the validity of scriptural prophecy. It foretells the coming of the Messiah, and details his
benevolent work. The prophecy pinpoints the very time of Jesus’ crucifixion. Finally, it
reveals the disastrous consequences of rejecting the Son of God. How thankful we should be
to Jehovah for providing this rich testimony.
Source: Jackson, Wayne. "Daniel's Prophecy of the Seventy Weeks." ChristianCourier.com.

Access date: May 3, 2017. https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/14-daniels-prophecy-
of-the-seventy-weeks.
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DANIEL’S 70 WEEKS
(Bobby Liddell)
Daniel 9 is one of the most discussed chapters in the Bible, and one about which there
are many different views. Obviously, not all can be right; however, we can understand this
chapter, and know what God intended for us to learn (cf. Eph. 5:17; 3:3-4).
The chapters of Daniel are not in chronological order. Daniel 9 is the last chapter of
the book chronologically. Darius I Hystaspes (Dan. 9:1) was the king of the Persian Empire.
He reigned from 521 to 486 B.C., and it was he who decreed the Jews could complete the
Temple (Ezra 6:1-12).
Daniel, who had been in Babylon for about eighty-five years (having been taken
captive in 606 B.C.), read Jeremiah’s prophecy of seventy years in the desolations of
Jerusalem (Jer. 25:11; cf. 2 Chr. 36:21; Dan. 9:2), and prayed on behalf of his people and the
city of Jerusalem that God would forgive the people and restore the city (Dan. 9:3-19). The
time of Daniel’s recorded prophecy was about 520 B.C. (the second year of Darius’ reign -
Zec. 1:7). As Jeremiah prophesied, and as Daniel read, the seventy years were fulfilled.
Zerubbabel had led 49,897 of the Jews back from captivity to Jerusalem (Ezra 1-2),
in the first of three returns. This return was under the decree of Cyrus (536 B.C.). They began
work on the temple, but were hindered, and the work was stopped (Ezra 4). Later, Darius I
Hystaspes searched for the original decree of Cyrus, and upon finding it, ordered the
resumption of building. The Temple, which was destroyed in 586 B.C. (Jer. 52:12-14), was
finished being rebuilt in 516 B.C. (seventy years as Jeremiah prophesied).
GOD’S ANSWER TO DANIEL’S PRAYER
God sent the angel Gabriel to give Daniel understanding (Dan. 9:20-23). Gabriel told
Daniel of seventy “weeks” (seventy heptads, or seventy sevens). Seventy times seven equals
490 (years--as we will learn the meaning must be). In this period of time, these things would
be accomplished.
First, “to finish the transgression” (Dan. 9:24); that is, to break forever the Jews from
idolatry. Assyrian and Babylonian captivity did this. When Christ came, idolatry was not a
problem among the Jews.
Second, “to make an end of sins,” a way of forgiveness would be provided, that sin
would be remembered by God “no more” (Heb. 8:12; cf. 10:1-4; 9:22; 10:12).
Third, “to make reconciliation for iniquity,” a way would be made for man to be
reconciled to God (2 Cor. 5:18-21; Rev. 1:5; Acts 22:16; Rom. 6:3-4).
Fourth, “to bring in everlasting righteousness,” the Gospel system of righteousness,

that brings salvation by Christ’s atonement for sin, would be brought in (cf. Rom. 3).
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Fifth, “to seal up the vision and prophecy,” the fulfillment of Old Testament
prophecies would culminate in the Messiah (Mat. 11:13; 5:17-18; Luke 24:44).
Sixth, and last, “to anoint the Most Holy,” Christ would be anointed as King of kings
(1 Tim. 6:15; Dan. 7:13-14; Mark 16:19; Col. 1:13; Rev. 1:9).
THE DIVISION OF THE SEVENTY WEEKS
Seven weeks (seven sevens, 7 “weeks,” or 49 years) would be required to rebuild

Jerusalem (“the street shall be built, again, and the wall, even in troublous times” [Dan.
9:25]).
Seven weeks and threescore and two weeks (69 weeks, comprised of 7 weeks [49
years, 7 x7] + 62 weeks [434 years, 62 x 7] = 483 years total) would be the time “from the
going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah" (Dan.
9:25).
AFTER (it is very important that we take note of the word “after”) the 483 years,
Messiah would be cut off (die violently by being crucified [Isa. 53:7-8]). Christ would begin
His public ministry “after” the sixty-ninth week; thus, in the seventieth week.
Christ began His public ministry when He was about thirty (Luke 3:23), and was
crucified when He was thirty-three. His public ministry lasted for three and one-half years
(John 1:29ff, for it covered the time of four Passovers John 2:12, 23; 5:1; 6:4; 12:1). In the
midst (middle) of the seventieth of Daniel’s seventy weeks, He would be “cut off’” (Dan.
9:26). Thus, half of the week would be three and one-half years (the time of His public
ministry), added to the 483 years before equals 486.5 years from “the going forth of the
commandment to restore and to rebuild Jerusalem.” This leaves 3.5 years of the 490 years,
the seventy sevens.
“But nor for himself” means He would have nothing (Dan. 9:26, ASV). He had no
possessions, except for His clothing (John 19:23-24). He had no position of worldly honor
(John 18:36). He had been forsaken by His friends (Mat. 24:56). He was crucified by His
own people the Jews (John 1:11; Mat. 23:34-39; 27:23). He gave up self, emptied Himself,
to save man from sin (2 Cor. 8:9; Phi. 2:5-8).
He would “confirm the covenant with many for one week” refers to the work of
Christ, and of His disciples after Him, to take the Gospel to the Jews. They were given the
“good news” first (Mat. 10:5-6; Acts 1:8). When the seventieth week was up, the Gospel
would be taken to the Samaritans (Acts 8:5), and eventually to the Gentiles.
“In the midst of the (seventieth, BL) week" (Dan. 9:27), He would cause the sacrifice
and oblation to cease in that He (Christ) would nail the Old Testament (with its system of
animal sacrifices) to His cross (Col. 2:14). By fulfilling the Old Law, He took it out of the
way (Mat. 5:17-18), by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb. 10:9-11). Thus, there is no benefit to
offering an animal sacrifice after the cross.
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THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM
AFTER the seventieth week, the people of the prince (the Roman army under Titus
sent by Emperor Vespasian) would destroy the city and the sanctuary (temple) in desolation
(Dan. 9:26). This took place, just as prophesied (cf. Mat. 24:15), in AD. 70. The Christians
in Jerusalem fled to Pella, and were spared, but multiplied thousands of Jews were killed in
the destruction of Jerusalem.
WHEN DID THE COMMAND GO FORTH (DAN. 9:25)?
The command to restore and to rebuild the city was given to Nehemiah in the second
commission of king Artaxerxes Longimanus (Neh. 1:1-3; 221-6). It was in the king’s
twentieth year; that is, 457 B.C., for He began to reign in 477 B.C.
TIMETABLE
Beginning with 457 BC. (“the going forth of the commandment”), add:
7 Weeks 49 Years (for the rebuilding of Jerusalem)

62 Weeks 434 Years (until the Messiah’s ministry)
1/2 Week 3.5 Years (until the crucifixion)
1/2 Week 3.5 Years (preaching the Gospel to the Jews)
457 B.C., plus 490 years equals AD. 33. Subtract 1/2 week (3.5 years), and the
crucifixion was around AD. 29.
CONCLUSION
Fulfilled prophecy is proof (1) of the Bible’s inspiration, (2) of God's deity, (3) of
God's plan for man’s salvation, and (4) that Jesus Christ is the Savior. Daniel's Seventy
Weeks do not refer to something yet to be fulfilled. God has not postponed the Messiah’s
coming. The blessings He made possible are available to us now, but we must respond to
God’s grace, in faith, if we would receive them.
Compiled by Bobby Liddell from classes taken under Rex A. Turner, Sr., and Richard L.
Curry, and from subsequent study.
Source: Bobby Liddell’s handout on Daniel: “Daniel’s 70 weeks.”
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THE SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL
(Ray Paseur)
The interpretation of the “seventy weeks” found in Daniel 9:24-27 is an extremely

difhcult undertaking. The various schools of interpretation of the seventy weeks are legend.
Many brilliant men have applied their energies to explanations of Daniel 9:24-27, only to
have those explanations questioned and exploded by the research of others. I have found both
strengths and Weaknesses in several of the explanations of Daniel 9:24-27 and as I set forth
what I consider to be both a reasonable and clear explanation of these verses, I full well
expect that some readers will disagree with me in some respects. Such reaction is natural I
think, but I do ask you to carefully and prayerfully consider the following study.
In this study I will list and discuss the major views of interpretation of Daniel 9:24-
27. 1 will then give an exposition of those verses and finally I will give in some detail the
premillennial view of Daniel’s “seventy weeks” with a brief refutation of that view.
Major Interpretations
There are several methods of interpretation of Daniel 9:24-27, but most of them are
only variations of the following four methods. First, the critical or liberal view maintains that
the book of Daniel was written in 165 BC. to encourage oppressed Palestinian Jews. The
critics see the “seventy weeks ” of Daniel as four hundred and ninety years which begin with
the overthrow of Jerusalem in 586 BC. and end in the overthrow of Antiochus Epiphanes
during the period of the Maccabees. The Messiah who was cut off (Daniel 9:26), is identified
as the High Priest Onias III (170 B.C.).
The second view, the Symbolical View, sometimes called the Christian Church View,
sees the “seventy weeks” of Daniel 9 as an indefinite period of time beginning with the Edict
of Cyrus (538 B.C.), and ending in the consummation of all things. The prince of Daniel 9:27
is the Antichrist. Prominent advocates of the View would be Keil, Kliefoth and Leupold.2
The third view, the traditional Messianic View, regards the “seventy weeks” of Daniel
9 as a definite period of four hundred and ninety years. The weeks of seven years are divided
into three parts: seven weeks (49 years), sixty two weeks (434 years) and one week (7 years).
The forty nine years accomplish the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the four hundred and thirty four
years bring us to the baptism of Jesus and in the middle of the last seven years Jesus the
Messiah is cut off or crucified. The prince of Daniel 9:27 is Titus and the verse speaks
of the destruction of Jerusalem in AC. 70. The six statements of Daniel 9:24 are fulfilled in
Jesus the Messiah. Pusey and Taylor favor this View.
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The fourth View is the Dispensationalist view and is sometimes called the
Premillennial or Parenthesis View. This View asserts that the “seventy weeks” of Daniel are
a period of four hundred and ninety years beginning from the command to rebuild Jerusalem
until the second coming of Christ. The first and second periods totalling 483 years end before
the death of the Messiah and the destruction of Jerusalem.3 This view is made possible by
asserting that a gap of indefinite length and including the Church age occurs between the
sixtyninth and seventieth week. According to this view the end of the seventieth week will
see the fulfillment of the six items listed in Daniel 9:24.4
A fifth view, which is essentially a variation of the Symbolic view is worthy of note.
Edward J. Young and Philip Mauro, both able advocates of this view suggest that the items
of Daniel 9:26 are fulfilled in the crucifixion of Christ and that the anointed one who is to be
cut off is indeed Christ.5 Young, suggests Daniel 9:27b refers to Titus and the destruction of
Jerusalem but does not believe the language requires this destruction to have occurred within
the seventieth week. The contention worthy of note is that both men View the “seventy
weeks” as symbolical. They do not involve themselves in schemes of chronology and they
do not believe the seventieth week involves any “Antichrist.”6
Exposition
The Historical Background of Daniel 9:1ff suggests that Daniel was in Babylon and
following his appointment to a high position in government (Daniel 5), he began to calculate
that the seventy year desolation prophesied by Jeremiah 25:11 and 29:10 was essentially up.
Daniel prayed that the temple of God and the city of Jerusalem might be rebuilt. Daniel
further asked God to show him what he might expect. God immediately dispatched Gabriel
to speak to Daniel and Gabriel showed Daniel not just a period of seventy years but seven
times seventy.
That the seventy weeks (9:24) are weeks of years can be seen from the context
beginning in 9:2. Daniel was concerned with seventy years and God showed him what would
happen in seventy years times seven or four hundred and ninety years. That the seventy weeks
of 9:24 do not refer to weeks of days is conceded by all, for the events of Daniel 9:24-27
could hardly be fulfilled in 490 days. That the seventy weeks of 9:24 are indefinite and refer
to an indeterminate length of time must be proven. Difficulties with the various chronologies
offered to explain the “seventy weeks” are no legitimate reason to “spiritualize” the numbers
and events of Daniel 9:24-27.
The passage (9:24-27) may be properly divided into two parts. The hrst in verse 24,
contains a general statement of what would occur in the time specified-the seventy weeks;
the second, verses 25-27, contains a particular statement of the manner in which that would
be accomplished.7
The angel gave Daniel (vs. 24) six objectives to be accomplished at the end of the
four hundred and ninety year period. First, transgression was to be finished. If the word
translated “finished” be defined as “complete" or “put an end to” according to certain
lexicons,8 the meaning is that sin will be put away or forgiven (Heb. 10:12, Eph. 1:15).
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However, since certain lexicons render the word “shut up” or “restrain,” the meaning of the
phrase may be that the gospel will be preached and sin and iniquity would be “restrained" or
“shut up.” The progress of sin would be curbed. Second, there would be an end made of sins.
The necessary propitiatory sacrifice would be offered and sin would be expiated or pardoned.
Third, the four houndred and ninety year period would “make reconciliation for iniquity.” A
means would be made for wiping out sins, so that men could be reconciled to God (Rom.
5:11, 11 Cor. 5:17-19). Fourth, everlasting righteousness would be brought in. Through the
Messiah, a means would be introduced by which men could become righteous (Rom. 3:21-
26, 1 Cor. 1:30, Jer. 2325-6). Fifth, prophecy and vision would be sealed up. The prophecies
of the Old Testament regarding the Messiah would be fulfilled. Sixth, the “most holy” would
be anointed. The phrase “most holy” could grammatically refer either to the temple, the
church or the Messiah. I think it is in keeping with the other five statements of verse 24 to
refer “most holy” to the Messiah who would be the anointed king.
Proceeding to Daniel 9:25 we find that Gabriel divides the seventy weeks (490 years)
into three distinct periods. From the command to rebuild and restore the city of Jerusalem
until the anointed one, the prince (Messiah) comes, shall be seven weeks (49 years) and sixty
two weeks (434 years). Following the sixty-ninth week is the seventieth week (7 years)
(Daniel 9:26). During this seventieth week (7 years) the prince (the Messiah) would confirm
a covenant with many (Daniel 9:27).
The starting point then, for calculating the seventy weeks (490 years) is “from the
going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem.” Several dates have been
offered but most revolve around three decrees: the decree of Cyrus (538 B.C.), the decree of
Artaxerxes made to Ezra (458 BC.) and the decree of Artaxerxes to rebuild the walls of
Jerusalem and the city (444 BC.)
Those who begin in 538 BC. offer Isaiah 44:26 and 45:13 as proof that Cyrus would
issue the decree to rebuild the city. But a cursory glance of Ezra 1:1ff and II Chronicles 36:22
will reveal that Cyrus’ decree mentions only the rebuilding of the temple. If it be charged
that to reject the decree of Cyrus is to reject the fulfillment of Isaiah 44:26 and 45: 13, we
need only to remember that Cyrus began the process of decrees and activities which
eventually did indeed culminate in the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem. Furthermore, we
must remember that if we accept the decree of Cyrus as our starting point, when we count
out the first seven weeks (49 years) we do not even reach the period of Ezra and Nehemiah.
The only way out of this dilemma is to “spiritualize” the entire 490 year period. It is not
surprising then to find that all those, who count the prophecy as Messianic, who begin at 538
BC, do in fact deny that the seventy weeks total an actual four hundred and ninety years.
Those who offer the decree of Artaxerxes to Ezra (458 B.C.), as the starting point
offer as proof of the validity of this date, the fact that counting four hundred and eighty-three
years brings us remarkably close to the personal ministry of our Lord (AD. 25, 26). Certainly,
that fact commends this starting point, but the truth of the matter is Ezra simply did not have
anything to do with rebuilding the walls of the city or the city itself.
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I suggest that the third decree, the decree made by Artaxerxes (in his 20th year) to
Nehemiah commissioning him to rebuild the city of Jerusalem is the correct beginning point
for the seventy weeks (490 years). Nehemiah 1:1-11 and 2:1-20 record that Nehemiah (1)
received word of the devastation of the city and afiliction of its people, (2) requested
permission from Artaxerxes to rebuild the city, and (3) once arriving in Jerusalem, surveyed
the city and found certain portions of it impassable by donkey. If it be objected that no such
decree is actually recorded in scripture, houses already existed in Jerusalem in 521 BC.
(Haggai 1:1-7) and that Nehemiah rebuilt the walls in fifty two days and not forty nine years
(Daniel 9:25), I offer the following suggestions. First, Nehemiah requested letters to allow
him to rebuild the city (Nehemiah 225-7), and the king did in fact grant him such letters and
permission (Nehemiah 2:9) re rebuild the city. Second, “There shall yet old men and women
dwell in the streets of Jerusalem, every man with his staff in his hand for every age. And the
streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof” (Zech. 8:5).
This passage suggests that Jerusalem would be rebuilt and would be secure and prosperous
as “of old.” Such terms could not be fulfilled by the mere rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls and
the building of a few homes in Haggai’s day. I suggest that to rebuild the city so that it was
strong, secure and fully inhabited and built with strength and moat did certainly take forty-
nine years.
If then we count from 444 BC, four hundred and eighty-three years, we come to the
date of AD. 39 which on the face of it, is too far past the personal ministry and death of
Christ. Brother Rex Turner, Sr. addresses this point directly:
The chronological dates of that period of history leave much to be desired at best.
With respect to this matter, there are two dates which seem to be certain: (a) that
Xerxes began his reign in 485 BC, and (b) that his son and successor, Artaxerxes,
died in 423 BC. The question involved is concerned with the commencement of the
reign of Artaxerxes. The chief source of dating turns on the flight of Themislocles to
Persia. Themistocles, the Athenian statesman and general, lied to Persia in 473 B.C.,
and according to Thucydides, a renouned scientihc historian, Themistocles tied to
Artaxerxes-not Xerxes, as other historians hae recorded. Assuming the correctness of
Thucydides’ statement, this would mean that Xerxes died in 474 B.C., and therefore,
the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes-as per Nehemiah 2:1-6-would be 454
BC. . . . Further, according to Herodotus, Darius established Xerxes as king two years
before his own death. Assuming these dates and facts to be correct, then Xerxes
reigned for a period of from twelve to thirteen years, instead of twenty-one years:
whereas, Artaxerxes reigned from fifty to fifty-one years, instead of forty-one years.9
In other words an adjustment of twelve years, using the data of Thucydides10 and
Herodotus” would start us at 456 BC. and would take us to AD. 27 as the end of the sixty-
nine weeks (483 years).
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As we consider Daniel 9:26 we find that the Messiah, the prince shall be cut off after
the sixty-nine weeks (483 years). This prince “shall make a firm covenant with many for one
week and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease . . (Dan.
9:27) This final week finishes the four hundred and ninety years. Jesus, according to the
counting of the Passover feasts in the gospel of John had a personal ministry of three and
onehalf years. He was then crucified according to each of the gospel accounts. When he died
on the cross, Jesus put an end to (made invalid), both bloody and bloodless sacrifices (Col.
2:13, 14; Heb. 1014-12).
Jesus, during his three and one-half year ministry preached exclusively to the Jews.
Following his death, the gospel was preached to the Jews and had moved to the Samaritans.
“Paul, the apostle to the Gentiles had been converted . . . a period of mercy had been exteded
to Israel, God’s people. This was the continuing of the covenant“?
Though the “seventy weeks” was a source of encouragement to Daniel, Jerusalem the
holy city is described by Gabriel as being destroyed.
And the people of the prince that should come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary;
and the end thereof shall be with a hood, and even unto the end shall be war;
desolations are determined . . . and upon the wing of abominations shall come one
that maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be
pour out upon the desolate (Dan. 9:26b, 27f).
“A people of the prince” indicates a people other than the Jews. The prince was
probably Titus, who with his Roman army overwhelmingly overthrew the city. Whether
“wing of abominations" has reference to the “porch of the temple” or to swiftness with which
the prince would make desolate, Gabriel was certainly speaking of the destruction of
Jerusalem and Jesus confirmed such (Matt. 24:15, 16).
Some assert that the seventy weeks (490 years) must encompass AD. 70 and the
destruction of Jerusalem. Oswald T. Allis in Prophecies and the Church addresses this point.
A difficulty with this interpretation is to be found in the fact that it does not clearly
define the terminus of the 70th week. Unless the view is taken that “in the midst of
the week" means “in the second half " of it, and even at the end of that half, the end
is not definitely hxed. It seems very unlikely that it “in the midst” really meant “at the
end," it would have been described in this way. On the other hand, if “in the midst”
is taken in its natural sense, a half-week, or three and a half years, remains to be
accounted for after the crucifixion. Many interpreters regard this as referring to the
period of the founding of the Church and the preaching of the gospel exclusively to
the Jews, a period ending with or about the time of the martyrdom of Stephen. Others
hold that the period of three and a half years was graciously extended to some 35
years, to the date of the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, a reference to which is
found in vs. 26. Both of these explanations may be regarded as possible.
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With regard to the Claim that the prophecy extends to the date of the destruction of
Jerusalem in AD. 70 it is to be noted that while the language of vs. 26 may seem to favor
this, it does not require it. Vs. 26 speaks of events which will come “after the threescore and
two weeks." Of these events it mentions first the cutting off of Messiah which vs. 27 describes
as taking place in the midst of the week. Then it speaks of the destruction of the city and
sanctuary and finally of an “end" or an “end of war,” which is a very indefinite expression.
Vs. 27 declares that a covenant is to be made firm for “one week,” that “in the midst of the
week” someone will cause sacrifice and oblation to cease. Then it goes on to speak of the
coming of a “desolator” and of a “full end." None of the predictions of desolation and
vengeance contained in these verses can be regarded as so definitely included in the program
outlined in vs. 24 that we can assert with conhdence that they must be regarded as fulfilled
within the compass of the 70 weeks. They are consequences of the cutting off, they may be
regarded as involved in it, but their accomplishment may extend, and if this interpretation is
correct, clearly does extend beyond the strict limits of the 70 weeks, since the destruction of
Jerusalem was much more than three and a half years after the crucifixion. But, in either case,
the great climactic event of the last week was the crucifixion which took place “in the midst”
of that week.
Dispensationalists And the Seventy Weeks
Whether we are speaking of Historical Premillennialists; Tribulational
Premillennialists or Ultradispensationalists, we are generally speaking of those who advocate
a parenthesis between Daniel’s sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks. Dispensationalists hold: (1)
that the seventy weeks of Daniel are an actual four hundred and ninety year period, (2) that
the beginning of the four hundred and ninety years is the decree of Artaxerxes in 444 B.C.,
(3) that the first sixty-two weeks are fulfilled in Christ’s triumphal entrance into Jerusalem,
(4) that Christ’s crucifixion and the destruction of Jerusalem occurred after the sixty-ninth
week and before the seventieth week, (5) that a “time out” period (a gap) of an indeterminate
number of years will precede the fulfilling of the seventieth week,14 (6) that the seventieth
week is yet future, (7) that the six items of Daniel 9:24 are tied to the seventieth week and
not to the crucifixion of Christ,15 (8) that the Prince of Daniel 9:27 is a heathen world ruler
(antichrist) who will make a covenant with the Jews for three and onehalf years, (9) that this
ruler will then betray that covenant and bring in a three and one-half year period of tribulation
such as the world has never seen. ‘6
Consider the following weaknesses of these propositions. First, crucifying Christ in
an interval or “time out” period breaks up the sequence of the seventy weeks. Second,
regarding the habit of calling “time in” and “time out” arbitrarily, Oswald T. Allis says,”
If it is claimed that it is necessary for Israel to be restored to and in their land in order
for the clock to resume ticking, it is to be remembered that Israel was still in the land
for nearly 40 years (to AD. 70) after the clock stopped ticking, quite as much in the
land as during the entire earthly life of Jesus preceding the triumphant entry and for
several centuries before it. So it must be admitted that Israel could still be in the land
after the clock stopped ticking . . . If the clock represents “Jewish" time, with Israel
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in the land and governed by God, how then could it tick at all during the entire period
from 445 BC. to AD. 30 . . . For Israel continued to be in the land and under foreign
rulers during these forty years, quite as much as from 445 or 538 BC. to AD. 30. In
short, the clock does not run on Jewish time or on Gentile time. It stops at the
triumphal entry and resumes ticking at the rapture simply because the exigencies of
the Dispensational theory require it, because room must be found for the entire
Church age, which began at Pentecost, between the sixtieth and seventieth weeks of
a prophecy regarding which we are told that it covers only 70 weeks.17
Third, to deny the times of Daniel 9:24 as being fulfilled in Christ is to totally ignore
several New Testament Passages which attest to the accomplishment of these six items (Heb.
10:12; Eph. 2:15; Rom. 5:11, 3:21-26; I Cor. 1:30; II Cor. 5: 17-19). Fourth, to identify the
prince who will make a covenant with many with a future antichrist is to contend for that of
which the scriptures give no hint at all. “The emphasis of verse 26 is not upon a prince from
a people, but upon the people who belong to the prince . . . In other words, he must be their
contemporary, alive when they are alive.”'
Source: Ed. David Lipe. Magnolia Bible College Lectureship - 1984: “The Biblical Doctrine
of Last Things.” Ray Paseur: The Seventy Weeks of Daniel. Pages 158-164.
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DANIEL’S 70 WEEKS OF YEARS: WHEN DID IT START? HAS IT ENDED, OR
IS THERE A GAP IN IT?
One of the most remarkable and important prophecies in the Bible is found in Daniel
9:24-27. It is the cornerstone of Messianic prophecy because it establishes the timing of both
the First and Second Advents of the Messiah.
The prophecy is usually referred to as “The 70 Weeks of Years.” This name derives
from the opening words of most English translations: “Seventy weeks have been decreed”
(Daniel 9:24). In the Hebrew, the word translated “weeks” is actually the word “sevens.” So,
the text actually says, “Seventy sevens have been decreed…”
Just as the English word “dozen” can refer to a dozen of anything, the Hebrew word
shavuim, meaning “sevens,” can refer to seven of anything. Its exact meaning is dependent
upon the context. In this key passage from Daniel, the context makes it clear that he is
speaking of years — seventy sevens of years, which would be a total of 490 years. It is
therefore appropriate to refer to the prophecy as “The 70 Weeks of Years” even though those
exact words are not found in the passage itself.
The Jewish Context and Goals
Another important thing to keep in mind about the context of the passage is that it is
directed to the Jewish people. The opening words of the prophecy make this clear: “Seventy
weeks have been declared for your people and your holy city…” (Daniel 9:24). The focus of
the prophecy is the nation of Israel and the city of Jerusalem.
The prophecy begins by stating that six things will be accomplished regarding the
Jewish people during a period of 490 years:
• “Finish the transgression”
• “Make an end of sin”
• “Make atonement for iniquity”
• “Bring in everlasting righteousness”
• “Seal up vision and prophecy”
• “Anoint the most holy place”
Let’s take a moment to consider the meaning of these six prophecies. The first, “finish
the transgression,” refers to the Jew’s rejection of God. The Hebrew word translated
“transgression” connotes the idea of rebellion, and the rebellion of the Jewish people is their
rejection of Jesus as their Messiah. Jesus said He would not return until the Jewish people
are willing to say, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord” (Matthew 23:37-39).
The Jews will open their hearts to their Messiah before Daniel’s 490-year period ends.
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The period will also witness an “end of sin” for the Jews. The word translated “sin”
refers to the sins of daily life — sins of dishonesty and immorality. This end of sin will occur
at the time the Jews accept their Messiah and His earthly reign of righteousness begins.
An atonement for Israel’s sins is the third thing that will happen during Daniel’s 70
weeks of years. This atonement occurred, of course, when Jesus shed His blood on the Cross
for the sins of the world. But that atonement will not actually be applied to the Jews until
they appropriate it by accepting Jesus as their Messiah.
The 490 year period will also “bring in everlasting righteousness.” This undoubtedly refers
to the establishment of the Messiah’s earthly reign when the earth will be flooded with peace,
righteousness and justice as the waters cover the sea.
The fifth achievement will be the fulfillment of all prophecy concerning the Messiah.
The Apostle Peter referred to two types of Messianic prophecy — those related to “the
sufferings of Christ” and those concerning “the glories to follow” (1 Peter 1:11). The
suffering prophecies were all fulfilled at the Cross. The prophecies concerning “the glories
to follow” are yet to be fulfilled. Just as Jesus was humiliated in history, He is going to be
glorified in history. This will occur when the Jews accept Him, and He returns to reign over
the world from Mt. Zion in Jerusalem.
The final goal to be achieved at the end of the 70 weeks of years is “the anointing of
the most holy.” Most English translations say “the most holy place.” The Hebrew simply
says, “the most holy.” Commentators therefore differ as to whether this is a reference to the
anointing of the Messiah as King of kings or whether it is talking about the anointing of the
Millennial Temple described in Ezekiel 40-48. Either way the anointing will not take place
until the Lord returns in response to the national repentance of the Jews.
The Starting Point
Daniel says all these spiritual goals will be accomplished within a special period of
490 years. When did that period begin, and when did it end? It is when Daniel addresses
these questions that he begins to give clues as to the timing of the First and Second Advents
of the Messiah.
The prophecy says that the starting point of the 70 weeks of years will be “the issuing
of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem” (Daniel 9:25). Keep in mind that this prophecy
was given to Daniel by the angel Gabriel during the time of Israel’s exile in Babylon. The
approximate date was 538 B.C., shortly before the first remnant of Jews were allowed to
return to Jerusalem in 536 B.C. under Zerubbabel. Jerusalem was in ruins at this time, having
been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar 70 years earlier in 586 B.C. (The captivity had begun in
605 B.C., before the destruction of Jerusalem, when Nebuchadnezzar took Daniel and other
“youths” to Babylon as hostages — Daniel 1:1-4.)
The crucial question relates to when the decree was issued “to restore and rebuild
Jerusalem.” There are three possible dates:
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• 538 B.C. — Cyrus, King of Persia, issued a decree to Zerubbabel to rebuild the
Temple in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 36:22-23; Ezra 1:1-3; and Ezra 6:1-5).
• 457 B.C. — Artaxerxes, King of Persia, issued a decree to Ezra authorizing him
to reinstitute the Temple services, appoint judges and magistrates, and teach the
Law (Ezra 7:11-26).
• 445 B.C. — Artaxerxes issued a decree to Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of
Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:1-8).
On the surface, the third decree, the one issued to Nehemiah, seems to be the most
obvious candidate for the starting date of the prophecy, for it is the only one that specifically
relates to the rebuilding of the city. For that reason, most commentators have selected it as
the beginning of the 70 weeks of years.
The Events of the 70 Weeks of Years
Daniel’s prophecy next states that the 490 years will be divided into three periods as
follows: seven weeks (49 years) plus sixty-two weeks (434 years) plus one week (7 years).
He states that at the end of the first two periods (69 weeks or 483 years), the Messiah will be
“cut off,” a seemingly clear reference to the crucifixion. He then states that both Jerusalem
and the Temple will be destroyed.
The prophecy concludes by focusing on the last week of years. It says that following
the death of the Messiah and the destruction of Jerusalem, “the prince who is to come” will
make a covenant with the Jewish people that will enable them to reinstitute their sacrificial
system. This prince will come from the same people who destroyed the Temple (the
Romans).
We know from 2 Thessalonians 2 that this “prince who is to come” is the Antichrist,
the “man of lawlessness” who is “the son of destruction.” The same passage makes it clear
that his covenant will enable the Jews to rebuild their Temple.
Both passages — Daniel 9 and 2 Thessalonians 2 — establish the fact that in the
middle of this 70th week (3 1/2 years into it) this “prince who is to come” will double cross
the Jewish people. He will march into the rebuilt Temple and declare himself to be God. He
will stop the sacrifices and he will erect “an abomination of desolation,” most likely an idol
of himself. The book of Revelation specifies that the Messiah will return to earth 3 1/2 years
after this desolation of the Temple takes place.
Now we have the timing of the two advents of the Messiah. He will come the first
time at the end of 483 years and will be “cut off” before the Temple is destroyed. He will
return the second time at the end of a seven-year period that will begin with a treaty that
allows the Jews to rebuild their Temple and reinstitute the Mosaic system of sacrifices.
Calculating Dates
The first person in modern history to calculate the 483 years to the “cutting off” of
the Messiah was Sir Robert Anderson in his book, The Coming Prince (1894). Using the
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decree to Nehemiah issued in 445 B.C. as his starting point, and using what he called “the
360 day prophetic year,” Anderson calculated that it was exactly 173,880 days or 483 lunar
years from the day the edict was issued to the day Jesus made His triumphal entry into
Jerusalem. His calculations placed the crucifixion in the spring of 32 A.D.
These calculations have remained almost sacred in Christian thinking for the past one
hundred years. But they need to be examined carefully because the fact of the matter is that
there are two serious problems with Anderson’s calculations.
The Prophetic Year Problem

The first is his assumption that the years in the prophecy are lunar years of 360 days.
That assumption is based upon the fact that the book of Revelation defines the 70th week of
Daniel as lasting a total of 2,520 days (Revelation 11:3 and 12:6). The only way that can
translate into seven years is by using lunar years of 360 days.
Now, on the surface, it seems logical to apply this Revelation principle to Daniel. If
the years of the final week of Daniel’s prophecy are lunar years, then surely the first 483
years must also be lunar years.
But there is a flaw in this logic. Daniel’s prophecy was written to the people of his
time to give them, among other things, an insight as to when the Messiah would come. And
the fact of the matter is that Daniel does not even so much as hint that he is speaking of
anything other than regular solar years.
Some would counter by saying that the Jews used a lunar calendar and therefore
thought only in lunar terms when calculating time. But that simply is not true. The Jews have
never relied on a pure lunar calendar, like the Muslims do. The Jews have always used a
lunar/solar calendar. Their months are 30 days long, but they insert what is called an
intercalary month every so often to make adjustments for the true solar calendar.
For the Jews this is an absolute necessity because their major festivals (Passover,
Harvest and Tabernacles) are all directly related to the agricultural cycle. If they did not make
the solar adjustments, their festivals would migrate around the calendar, resulting in harvest
festivals falling during seed planting times! This is exactly the case with the Muslim calendar
which is a pure lunar calendar. And thus, the sacred festival of Ramadan circulates around
the year. One year it will be in August, the next in September, and the next in October.
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The point is that the Jews in Daniel’s time did not think in terms of 360 day years.
Nor did Daniel. If you will look at Daniel 9:1-2 you will see that shortly before he was given
the 70 Weeks of Years prophecy by Gabriel, he discovered Jeremiah’s prophecy that the
Babylonian captivity would last 70 years. He realized immediately that he was very near the
end of those 70 years.
The indication of this passage is that Daniel interpreted Jeremiah’s prophecy of 70
years to be 70 regular years as defined by the Jewish lunar/solar calendar. And again, if his
subsequent prophecy about the 70 weeks of years was to have any meaning to the Jewish
people, it had to be understood in terms of regular years, not “prophetic years” of 360 days
each.
Why then would there be a difference between the first 483 years and the last seven?
I suspect it may relate to a statement made by Jesus in Matthew 24. He said the 70th week of
Daniel will be “cut short” lest all life on earth be destroyed during that terrible period of
tribulation (Matthew 24:22).
The Terminus Problem
The second problem with Anderson’s calculations is their terminus date of 32 A.D.
This just simply is not an acceptable year for the death of Jesus since it would place the
crucifixion on either Sunday or Monday. Even Anderson recognized this problem, and as one
author has put it, Anderson engaged in some “mathematical gymnastics” to arrive at a Friday
crucifixion.
In his book, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ, Harold Hoehner of Dallas
Theological Seminary shifts the date of Nehemiah’s decree from 445 to 444 B.C. and then
calculates the 173,880 days to the spring of 33 A.D., when the crucifixion would have fallen
on a Friday. But this creates more problems than it solves. The 444 B.C. date is suspect and
the 33 A.D. date is very late. Luke 3:23 says Jesus was “about 30 years of age” when He
began His ministry. His ministry lasted 3 1/2 years. Hoehner’s chronology would make Jesus
32 years old at the start of His ministry and 35 at the time of his death.
An Alternative Viewpoint
I believe a better solution is to interpret Daniel’s prophecy as speaking of lunar years
adjusted periodically and thus amounting to regular years. I also believe that the best starting
point for the prophecy is the decree issued to Ezra in 457 B.C.
I have already explained why I believe regular years should be used. Let me now
explain why I think the decree issued to Ezra should be used as the starting point for the
calculation of the first two periods totaling 483 years.
The decree given to Zerubbabel authorized the rebuilding of the Temple. The decree
issued to Nehemiah concerned the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. Ezra’s decree was
more general in nature, covering a variety of subjects. But we know from Scripture that he
interpreted it to mean that the Jews were authorized to launch a general rebuilding campaign
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that included the temple, the city, and the walls. His interpretation is stated in Ezra 9:9 —
“God has not forsaken us, but has extended loving kindness to us in the sight of the kings of
Persia, to give us reviving to raise up the house of our God, to restore its ruins, and to give
us a wall in Judah and Jerusalem” (Ezra 9:9).
Now, using Ezra’s decree as the starting point (457 B.C.), if we count forward 483
years we will arrive at 27 A.D. (There is only one year between 1 B.C. and 1 A.D.) According
to the translator of Josephus, the Jewish new year that began in the fall of 27 A.D. marked
the beginning of the last Jubilee Year that the Jews enjoyed in the land before their worldwide
dispersal by the Romans in 70 A.D. This is most likely the year that Jesus began His public
ministry. This is hinted at in Luke 4 where it says that when Jesus launched His ministry at
the synagogue in Nazareth, He did so by reading a passage from Isaiah 61 about the way in
which the Messiah would fulfill the spiritual essence of the Jubilee. After finishing the
reading, Jesus proclaimed, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke
4:21).
The Relationship of the Resurrection
Further evidence that this date is correct is the fact that it would place the end of Jesus’
3 1/2-year ministry in the spring of 31 A.D. And that happens to be the most likely year of
the crucifixion.
Most scholars have tried to place the crucifixion in either 30 or 33 A.D. because these
are the only two years in the time frame of Jesus’ death when Passover fell on Friday. The
belief that Jesus was crucified on a Passover that fell on Friday is based on a statement in
Mark 15:42 which says the crucifixion took place on “the day of preparation before the
Sabbath.”
But this statement does not necessarily mean that the crucifixion took place on a
Friday. Such an assumption is rooted in Gentile ignorance about Jewish feast days. What the
Gentile church has failed to recognize over the centuries is that the first day after Passover is
a feast day, or “High Sabbath,” because it is the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
It is considered to be a Sabbath regardless of what day of the week it falls on (Numbers
28:16-18).
The Gospels make it clear that the crucifixion week had two Sabbaths. Mark 16:1
says a group of women bought spices to anoint the body of Jesus after the Sabbath was over.
But in Luke 23:56 it says they bought the spices before the Sabbath and then rested on the
Sabbath before proceeding to the tomb.
In the year 31 A.D. Passover fell on Wednesday. Jesus was crucified that morning
and buried that evening. The next day, Thursday, was a High Sabbath. On Friday, after the
High Sabbath, the women bought the spices and then rested on the regular Sabbath (Saturday)
before going to the tomb on Sunday morning.
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Further Collaboration
The time span I am proposing from 457 B.C. to 27 A.D. is also supported by another
amazing piece of evidence. Do you remember how Daniel divided the first 483 years into
two periods of time, first 49 years and then 434 years? Why did he do that? Go back and re-
read Daniel 9:25 and notice that he makes specific reference to the rebuilding of the city of
Jerusalem. Did he divide the period into two parts to indicate that the rebuilding of the city
would occupy the first 49 years?
In a recent booklet entitled “The Daniel Papers,” a publication of the Radio Bible
Class, the author, Herb Vander Lugt, notes:
“According to Barnes and several other trustworthy Bible commentators, the historian
Prideaux declared Nehemiah’s last action in rebuilding the city occurred in the 15th
year of the Persian ruler Darius Nothus (423-404 B.C.). His 15th year was the 49th
year from the 457 B.C. decree. Josephus seems to support this idea in his remarks
about the death of Nehemiah.”
A Prophetic Gap
One puzzle remains about Daniel’s prophecy. What about the 70th week? Is it past or
future? I believe there is no doubt whatsoever that it is future. The reason for that conclusion
is simple. The prophecy begins by stating that the 490 years will produce six consequences
among the Jewish people.
I began this article by outlining those six prophetic events in detail. If you will look
back at them, you will readily see that they are still unfulfilled. The Jews are still in rebellion
against God, they are still caught up in their sins, they are still refusing to accept the
atonement for their iniquity, everlasting righteousness has not come to the earth, all prophecy
concerning the Messiah has not yet been fulfilled, and “the most holy” has not been anointed.
There must, therefore, be a gap in the prophecy. This may seem strange to the casual
reader. But students of prophecy are familiar with prophetic gaps. They are very common in
prophetic literature because of the peculiar nature of the prophetic perspective. God would
show His prophets great future events and the prophets would present them as if they were
happening in rapid succession because that’s the way they appeared. The prophet was like a
person looking down a mountain range seeing one mountain top after another, seemingly
pressed up against each other, but in reality, separated by great valleys which could not be
seen.
Jesus Himself recognized this characteristic of prophecy when He read a prophecy
from Isaiah in the synagogue in Nazareth. If you will check what He read (Luke 4:18- 19)
against what Isaiah wrote (Isaiah 61:1-3), you will see that Jesus stopped reading in the
middle of a sentence because the rest of the sentence had to do with His Second Coming.
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The Implications
For Christians, Daniel’s prophecy should serve to underscore the supernatural origin
of the Bible. It should also serve as confirmation that Jesus of Nazareth was the promised
Messiah.
For Jews, the prophecy should be deeply disturbing for two reasons. First, it clearly
teaches that the Messiah had to come before the Temple was destroyed in 70 A.D. That means
that either God failed to keep His promise or else the Jews missed recognizing their Messiah.
Second, the prophecy clearly teaches that a terrible time of tribulation for the Jews still lies
ahead.
Moses said it would be a time of “distress” that would occur in “the latter days”
(Deuteronomy 4:30). Jeremiah called it “the time of Jacob’s distress” (Jeremiah 30:7). Daniel
characterized it as “a time of distress such as never occurred since there was a nation until
that time” (Daniel 12:1). Zechariah says two-thirds of the Jews will “be cut off and perish”
during that terrible time (Zechariah 13:8).
The process will be horrible. But the result will be glorious, for the remaining remnant
will at long last turn their hearts to God, accept their Messiah, and cry out, “Blessed is He
who comes in the name of the Lord!”
Recommended Reading
Archer, Jr., Gleason L., Daniel (Vol. 7 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary edited by Frank
E. Gaebelein, Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1985)
Hoehner, Harold, Chronological Aspects of the Life of Christ (Zondervan, Grand Rapids,
Michigan, 1977)
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Jeremiah, David with C.C. Carlson, The Handwriting on the Wall (Word, Dallas, Texas,
1992)
Lugt, Herb Vander, The Daniel Papers: Daniel’s Prophecy of 70 Weeks (Radio Bible Class,
Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1994)
McClain, Alva J., Daniel’s Prophecy of the 70 Weeks (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan,
1940)
Showers, Renald, The Most High God (The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry, West
Collingswood, NJ, 1982)
Wood, Leon, A Commentary on Daniel (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1973)
Source: http://christinprophecy.org/articles/daniels-70-weeks-of-years/
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WHAT ARE THE SEVENTY WEEKS OF DANIEL?
(GotQuestions.org)
Question: "What are the seventy weeks of Daniel?"

Answer: The “seventy weeks” prophecy is one of the most significant and detailed Messianic
prophecies of the Old Testament. It is found in Daniel 9. The chapter begins with Daniel
praying for Israel, acknowledging the nation’s sins against God and asking for God’s mercy.
As Daniel prayed, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and gave him a vision of Israel’s future.
The Divisions of the 70 Weeks
In verse 24, Gabriel says, “Seventy ‘seven’ are decreed for your people and your holy
city.” Almost all commentators agree that the seventy “sevens” should be understood as
seventy “weeks” of years, in other words, a period of 490 years. These verses provide a sort
of “clock” that gives an idea of when the Messiah would come and some of the events that
would accompany His appearance.
The prophecy goes on to divide the 490 years into three smaller units: one of 49 years,
one of 434 years, and one 7 years. The final “week” of 7 years is further divided in half.
Verse 25 says, “From the time the word goes out to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the
Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven ‘sevens,’ and sixty-two ‘sevens.’” Seven
“sevens” is 49 years, and sixty-two “sevens” is another 434 years:
49 years + 434 years = 483 years.
The Purpose of the 70 Weeks
The prophecy contains a statement concerning God’s six-fold purpose in bringing
these events to pass. Verse 24 says this purpose is 1) “to finish transgression,” 2) “to put an
end to sin,” 3) “to atone for wickedness,” 4) “to bring in everlasting righteousness,” 5) “to
seal up vision and prophecy,” and 6) “to anoint the most holy.”
Notice that these results concern the total eradication of sin and the establishing of
righteousness. The prophecy of the 70 weeks summarizes what happens before Jesus sets up
His millennial kingdom. Of special note is the third in the list of results: “to atone for
wickedness.” Jesus accomplished the atonement for sin by His death on the cross (Romans
3:25; Hebrews 2:17).
The Fulfillment of the 70 Weeks
Gabriel said the prophetic clock would start at the time that a decree was issued to rebuild
Jerusalem. From the date of that decree to the time of the Messiah would be 483 years. We
know from history that the command to “restore and rebuild Jerusalem” was given by King
Artaxerxes of Persia c. 445 B.C. (see Nehemiah 2:1-8).
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The first unit of 49 years (seven “sevens”) covers the time that it took to rebuild
Jerusalem, “with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble” (Daniel 9:25). This rebuilding
is chronicled in the book of Nehemiah.
Using the Jewish custom of a 360-day year, 483 years after 445 B.C. places us at A.D.
30, which would coincide with Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-9). The
prophecy in Daniel 9 specifies that after the completion of the 483 years, “the Anointed One
will be cut off” (verse 26). This was fulfilled when Jesus was crucified.
Daniel 9:26 continues with a prediction that, after the Messiah is killed, “the people
of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary.” This was fulfilled with
the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. The “ruler who will come” is a reference to the
Antichrist, who, it seems, will have some connection with Rome, since it was the Romans
who destroyed Jerusalem.
The Final Week of the 70 Weeks
Of the 70 “sevens,” 69 have been fulfilled in history. This leaves one more “seven”
yet to be fulfilled. Most scholars believe that we are now living in a huge gap between the
69th week and the 70th week. The prophetic clock has been paused, as it were. The final
“seven” of Daniel is what we usually call the tribulation period.
Daniel’s prophecy reveals some of the actions of the Antichrist, the “ruler who will
come.” Verse 27 says, “He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’” However,
“in the middle of the ‘seven,’ . . . he will set up an abomination that causes desolation” in the
temple. Jesus warned of this event in Matthew 24:15. After the Antichrist breaks the covenant
with Israel, a time of “great tribulation” begins (Matthew 24:21, NKJV).
Daniel also predicts that the Antichrist will face judgment. He only rules “until the
end that is decreed is poured out on him” (Daniel 9:27). God will only allow evil to go so far,
and the judgment the Antichrist will face has already been planned out.
Conclusion
The prophecy of the 70 weeks is complex and amazingly detailed, and much has been
written about it. Of course, there are various interpretations, but what we have presented here
is the dispensational, premillennial view. One thing is certain: God has a time table, and He
is keeping things on schedule. He knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), and we
should always be looking for the triumphant return of our Lord (Revelation 22:7).
Recommended Resource: Daniel: The John Walvoord Prophecy Commentary by Walvoord
& Dyer.
Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/seventy-weeks.html
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THE 70 WEEKS OF DANIEL
(Jack Kelley)
Many believe that Daniel 9:24-27 is the most important passage of prophecy in all of
Scripture. Almost every mistake I’ve run across in studying the various interpretations of
End Times Prophecy can be traced back to a misunderstanding of this passage. Let’s begin
the year with an updated and expanded study of this important prophecy.
Before plowing into it, we’ll back up a little and review the context. Daniel was an
old man, probably in his eighties. He’d been in Babylon for nearly 70 years and knew from
reading the recently completed scroll of Jeremiah’s writings (specifically the part we know
as Jeremiah 25:8-11) that the 70-year captivity God had ordained for Israel was just about
over. (Daniel 9:2)
The reason for the captivity had been Israel’s insistence upon worshiping the false
gods of their pagan neighbors. Its duration of 70 years came from the fact that for 490 years
they had failed to let their farmland lie fallow one year out of every seven as God had
commanded in Leviticus 25:1-7. The Lord had been patient all that time but finally had sent
them to Babylon to give the land the 70 years of rest that were due it. (2 Chron. 36:21)
The beginning of Daniel 9 documents Daniel’s prayer, reminding the Lord that the
70-year time of punishment was nearly over and asking for mercy on behalf of his people.
Before he could finish his prayer, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and spoke the words that
we know as Daniel 9:24-27. Let’s read the whole thing to get the overview and then take it
apart verse by verse.
Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and your Holy City to finish
transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most Holy. Know and
understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until
The Anointed One the Ruler comes there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks.
It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench but in times of trouble. After the sixty-two
weeks, the Anointed One will be cut off and have nothing. The people of the ruler
who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood:
War will continue till the end and desolations have been decreed. He will confirm a
covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will put an end to
sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the Temple he will set up an abomination
that causes desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out on him (Daniel 9:24-
27).
No prophecy in all of Scripture is more critical to our understanding of the end times
than these four verses. A few basic clarifications are in order first; then we’ll interpret the
passage verse by verse. The Hebrew word translated weeks (or sevens) refers to a period of
7 years, like the English word decade refers to a period of 10 years. It literally means “a week
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of years.” So, 70 weeks is 70 x 7 years or 490 years. This period is divided into three parts,
7 weeks or 49 years, 62 weeks or 434 years, and 1 week or 7 years. Let’s begin.
Seventy weeks are determined upon your people and your Holy City to finish
transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting
righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most Holy [place].
(Daniel 9:24).
Sitting upon His heavenly throne, God decreed that six things would be accomplished
for Daniel’s people (Israel) and Daniel’s Holy City (Jerusalem) during a specified period of
490 years. (I’ve inserted the word “place” after Holy at the end of the verse to clarify the fact
that it refers to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem.)
We should be aware that in Hebrew these things read a little differently. Literally,
God had determined to:
1. Restrict or restrain the transgression (also translated rebellion)
2. Seal up their sins (as if putting them away in a sealed container)
3. Make atonement (restitution) for their iniquity
4. Bring them into a state of everlasting righteousness
5. Seal up (same word as #2) vision and prophecy
6. Anoint (consecrate) the most Holy place (sanctuary)
In plain language, God would put an end to their rebellion against Him, put away their
sins, and pay the penalties they had accrued, bring the people into a state of perpetual
righteousness, fulfill the remaining prophecies, and anoint the Temple. This was to be
accomplished through their Messiah (Jesus) because no one else could do it. Had they
accepted Him as their savior their rebellion against God would have ended. Their sins would
have all been forgiven, and the full penalty paid for them. They would have entered into a
state of eternal righteousness, all their prophecies would have been fulfilled, and the rebuilt
temple would have been consecrated. It should be noted here that although it appears to have
been accepted by Him, God never dwelt in the 2nd Temple, nor was the ark of the covenant
and its mercy seat ever present therein.
Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem
until The Anointed One the Ruler comes there will be seven weeks and sixty two weeks.
It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench but in times of trouble (Daniel 9:25).
Here is a clear prophecy of the timing of the First Coming. When this message was given
to Daniel by the angel Gabriel, Jerusalem had lain in ruin for nearly 70 years, and the Jews
were captive in Babylon. Counting forward for 62 + 7 periods of 7 years each (a total of 483
years) from a future decree giving the Jews permission to restore and rebuild Jerusalem, they
should expect the Messiah.
To avoid confusion, it’s important to distinguish the decree that freed the Jews from their
captivity from the one that gave them permission to rebuild Jerusalem.
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When he conquered Babylon in 535BC Cyrus the Persian immediately freed the Jews. It
had been prophesied 150 years earlier in Isaiah 44:24-45:6 and was fulfilled in Ezra 1:1-4.
But according to Nehemiah 2:1-9 the decree to rebuild Jerusalem was given in the first month
of the 20th year of his reign by King Artaxerxes of Persia (March of 445 BC on our calendar,
about 90 years later).
About 125 years ago Sir Robert Anderson unlocked the secret of Daniel’s 70 weeks when
he teamed up with the London Royal Observatory to discover that prophetic years are 360
days in length and consist of 12 months of 30 days each. This is also the only way you can
make the three measures of the Great Tribulation (1260 days, 42 months, or 3 1/2 years)
come out the same. Therefore the 70 weeks of Daniel consist of 490 years of 360 days each.
He published this discovery in a book called The Coming Prince, a commentary on Daniel’s
70th Week.
From their research, we also know that exactly 483 years after the decree of Artaxerxes
the Lord Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey to shouts of “Blessed is the King who comes
in the name of the Lord” (Luke 19:38)! It was the only day in His life that He permitted His
followers to proclaim Him as Israel’s King, fulfilling Daniel’s prophecy to the day! The
Hebrew in Daniel 9:25 calls Him Messiah the Prince, denoting the fact that He was coming
as the Anointed Son of the King and was not yet crowned King Himself.
In Luke 19:41-45, Jesus reminded the people of the specific nature of this prophecy. As
he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had
only known on this day what would bring you peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes. The
days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and
encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the
children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not
recognize the time of God’s coming to you.” He held them accountable for knowing Daniel
9:24-27.
A few days later He extended that accountability to those who would be alive in Israel
during the End Times. “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that
causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel–let the reader understand– then let
those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. (Matt 24:15-16) They will also be required to
understand Daniel 9.
After the sixty two weeks the Anointed One will be cut off and have nothing. The people
of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like
a flood: War will continue till the end and desolations have been decreed (Daniel 9:26).
First came 7 sevens (49 years) and then 62 sevens (434 years) for a total of 69 sevens or
483 years. The Hebrew word for Anointed One is Mashiach (Messiah in English). At the
end of this 2nd period, their Messiah would be cut off, which means to be executed or literally
destroyed in the making of a covenant, having received none of the honor, glory, and blessing
the Scriptures promised Him.
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Make no mistake about it. Jesus had to die so these 6 promises could come true. No one
else in Heaven or on Earth could accomplish this. We can only imagine how different things
would have been if they had accepted Him as their Messiah and let Him die for their sins so
He could bring them into everlasting righteousness with His resurrection. But of course God
knew they wouldn’t, so He had to do things the hard way.
Do you realize what that means? It wasn’t killing the Messiah that put the Jews at odds
with God. After all, He came to die for them. No. It’s that in killing Him, they refused to
let His death pay for their sins so He could save them. This had the effect of making His
death meaningless to them. That’s what severed the relationship.
Because of that, we now get the first hint that all would not go well. Following the
crucifixion, the people of a ruler yet to come would destroy Jerusalem, and the Temple—the
same Temple that God decreed would be consecrated. The Israelites would be scattered
abroad, and peace would elude the world.
We all know that Jesus was crucified and 38 years later the Romans put the torch to the
city and the Temple destroying both. Surviving Jews were forced to flee for their lives, and
in the ensuing 2000 years, I don’t believe a single generation has escaped involvement in a
war of some kind.
After the crucifixion, something strange happened: The Heavenly clock stopped. 69 of
the 70 weeks had passed and all that was prophesied to happen during those 483 years had
come to pass, but there was still one week (7 years) left. There are hints in the Old Testament
that the clock had stopped several times before in Israel’s history when for one reason or
another they were either under subjugation or out of the land. And in the New Testament
we’re also given hints that while God is dealing with the Church, time ceases to exist for
Israel (Acts 15:13-18). But the clearest indication of the stopped clock is that the events
foretold in Daniel 9:27 simply haven’t happened yet.
He will confirm a covenant with many for one week. In the middle of the week he will
put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the Temple he will set up an
abomination that causes desolation until the end that is decreed is poured out on him
(Daniel 9:27).
It’s vital to our understanding of the End Times that we realize two things here. First,
the Age of Grace didn’t follow the Age of Law. It merely interrupted the Age of Law seven
years short of its promised duration. These seven years have to be completed for God to
accomplish the six things the angel listed in verse 24 for Israel.
And second, the Age of Grace was not the next step in the progression of God’s overall
plan but was a deviation from it. Once the rapture comes, nothing like the Age of Grace will
ever happen again. (Ephes. 2:6-7) Even when Israel accepts the New Covenant, as Jeremiah
31:31-34 promises, they won’t enjoy the same benefits the Church has enjoyed. The
relationship the Church has with the Lord will never be repeated with any other group. Ever.
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But before we try to understand the 70th week let’s review a rule of grammar that will
help make our interpretation of verse 27 correct. The rule is this: Pronouns refer us back to
the closest previous noun. “He,” being a personal pronoun, refers to the closest previous
personal noun, in this case, “the ruler who will come.” So a ruler who will come from the
territory of the old Roman Empire will confirm a 7-year covenant with Israel that permits
them to build a Temple and re-instate their Old Covenant worship system. 3 1/2 years later
he will violate the covenant by setting up an abomination that causes the Temple to become
desolate, putting an end to their worship. This abomination brings the wrath of God down
upon him, and he will be destroyed.
The most obvious way in which we know these things haven’t happened is that the Jewish
Old Covenant worship system requires a Temple and there hasn’t been one since 70 AD
when the Romans destroyed it.
Some say this prophecy was fulfilled during the Roman destruction, but most believe it’s
yet future, partly because of the term Abomination that causes Desolation. It’s a specific
insult to God that has happened only once previously. Antiochus Epiphanes, a powerful
Syrian king, had attacked Jerusalem and entered the Temple area in 168BC. There he had
sacrificed a pig on the Temple altar and erected a statue of the Greek god Zeus with his own
face on it. He then required everyone to worship it on pain of death. This rendered the Temple
unfit for worshiping God and so incensed the Jews that they revolted and defeated the
Syrians. This is all recorded in Jewish history (1st Maccabees) where it’s called the
Abomination of Desolation. The subsequent cleansing of the Temple is celebrated to this day
in the Feast of Hanukkah.
Paul warned us that in the latter days a world leader will become so powerful that he will
exalt himself above everything that is called god or is worshiped and will stand in the Temple
proclaiming himself to be God (2 Thes 2:4). In Rev 13:14-15 we’re told that he’ll have a
statue of himself erected and require everyone to worship it on pain of death. In Matt 24:15-
21 Jesus said that the Abomination that causes Desolation spoken of by Daniel will kick off
the Great Tribulation, a period 3 1/2 years long that coincides with the last half of Daniel’s
70th week. The similarities between this coming event and the one from history being so
obvious, most scholars are persuaded that one points to the other since nothing in the
intervening years fits so completely.
Soon and Very Soon
A new leader will soon emerge on the scene, a man with great personal charisma.
Following a devastating war in the Middle East, he’ll present a plan to restore peace, by
which he will quickly captivate and control the world. Since all true believers will have
recently disappeared from Earth in the rapture of the Church, he’ll have no trouble persuading
most remaining inhabitants that he is the promised Messiah, the Prince of Peace. He will
astound and amaze them all with feats of diplomacy and conquest, even performing the
supernatural.
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When he claims to be God, all hell will break loose on Earth and 3 1/2 years of the
most terrible times mankind has ever known will threaten their very existence. But before
they’re all destroyed the real Prince of Peace will return and overthrow this impostor. He will
set up His kingdom on earth, a kingdom that will never be destroyed or left to another.
Having given His life to finish transgression, put an end to sin, atone for wickedness
and bring in everlasting righteousness, and having fulfilled all Biblical vision and prophecy,
He will anoint the most Holy Place and receive all the honor, glory and blessing the Scriptures
promise Him. Israel will finally have her Kingdom back and will live in peace with God in
her midst forever. You can almost hear the footsteps of the Messiah. 01-08-11.
Source: https://gracethrufaith.com/end-times-prophecy/the-70-weeks-of-daniel/
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Matthew 24
MATTHEW 24
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. Premillennialism teaches that the return of Christ will be preceded by certain signs
like apostasy, famine, wars, earthquakes, the antichrist and the tribulation.
2. They make such statement based on their interpretation of Matthew 24.
3. They believe that Matthew 24 is the basis for the return of Christ for His millennial
reign on earth.
4. The return of Jesus will be immediately preceded by a period of great, worldwide
tribulation that will particularly focus on the Jewish people.
5. Matthew 24 was prefilled in type in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
6. Matthew 24 is yet-to-be-fulfilled sometime in the near future.
Doctrine Defeated.
1. The lord discusses two different events here:
2. In the first place, his coming on judgment upon Jerusalem (the end of Judaism).
3. In the second place, his final and second coming for final judgment (the end of
world).
4. This is easily seen in the same text, even though the disciples were looking at just
one event, Christ answered their questions with two events.
5. The way to see this in the text is by two mains aspects: the Time and the signs.
Sign Time Details
Judgment Many signs (v. 1-33) It says “days” Historians tells us about
upon When you see “the (v.16, 19, 22, 29) those events. The
Jerusalem abomination of “This generation abomination tells us
(A.D 70) desolation… stand in shall not pass, till about a local event.
the holy place” all these things be Here is the time limited,
fulfilled” (v. 34) in the first places talks
in plural, days, not one
day. Besides, the Lord
makes a frame of time
of those local events,
that generation.
The Final No sign “be ye also “That day and Since no one knows the
Judgment ready” (v. 43-44). hour knoweth no time, nor signs of the
man.” (v. 36) second coming, and
reward and punishments
will be done (v. 44-51),
then, this is the
universal final
judgment.
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True
TRUE
185
MATTHEW 24
(Wayne Jackson)
As the end of the second millennium A.D. approaches, there may be no context that
has become the focus of more controversy than the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew’s
Gospel record. This marvelous depository of prophetic literature has been victimized by
considerable theological speculation. Several theories, spawned by a misunderstanding of
this chapter, have generated confusion in the religious community.
THE CURRENT CONFUSION
There are two extremes relative to Matthew 24 which must be addressed. First, there
is the notion, advocated by the proponents of “realized eschatology,” which contends that all
Bible prophecy, including everything within Matthew 24 (e.g., the second coming of Christ,
the judgment day, and the end of the world), was fulfilled in the event of Jerusalem’s
destruction by the Romans in A.D. 70 (King 342-78). For a refutation of the major
components of the A.D. 70 dogma, see the author’s book, The A.D. 70 Theory--A Review
of the Max King Doctrine.
On the other hand, those who subscribe to the doctrine of “dispensational
premillennialism” tend to view the whole of Matthew 24 as a sort of end-time manual which
allows one to determine the characteristic events, and therefore the general time, at which the
Lord will return to initiate his “millennial reign.” For example, in his popular book, The Late
Great Planet Earth, first published in 1976, Hal Lindsey argued that Matthew 24 contains the
prophetical information which indicates that the “generation” witnessing the “rebirth of
Israel” is the same generation which will witness the fulfillment of the “signs” of Matthew
24:1-33, consummated by the second coming of Christ. In as much as the “rebirth of Israel”
took place in 1948, and since Lindsey viewed a “generation,” as “something like forty years,”
he felt confident in contending that the Lord’s return would be in the neighborhood of 1988
(43). Later, as the 80s approached, Lindsey vacillated, stretched his forty-year timetable to
as long as one hundred years, confessing that he really did not know whether or not the
terminal “generation” commenced with the rebirth of Israel (Eternity 1/77). Billy Graham
frequently has preached that “Matthew 24 is knocking at the door.”
Neither of these views is consistent with a reasonable interpretation of Matthew 24.
THE “KEY” THAT UNLOCKS THE CHAPTER
Occasionally, in a context characterized by some difficulty, there will be a “key”
passage that unlocks the meaning of the material (cf. 1 Cor. 7:26). Such is the case with
reference to Matthew 24. The significant verse is 34, wherein the Lord states: “Verily I say
unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished” (ASV).
Before giving consideration to some of the details of this verse, let us make this general
observation. When there are several passages that deal with a topic, some of which are clearer
than others, or some of which are framed in language more literal than others, the less
ambiguous, or more literal, are always to be employed as the guiding force of interpretation.
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This is fundamental exegetical procedure. Now here is the point. Matthew 24:34 is a clear,
literal statement from the Lord relative to the events previously discussed. This text,
therefore, must be a prevailing guideline in the interpretation of this inspired narrative.
Crucial to understanding this verse, and the context overall, is the term “generation.”
The Lord clearly indicated that “this” generation, i.e., his generation, would not “pass away,”
until the events depicted in verses 4-33 were “accomplished,” i.e., fulfilled. It has been
common for dispensationalists to identify “generation” (genea) with the Jewish race, hence
to contend that “the family of Israel” will be preserved until all “these things” are fulfilled
(Scofield 1034). Since the Jewish people are still extant, this concept allows
dispensationalists to stretch the circumstances of Matthew 24 all the way to the present time.
This notion of the passage is seriously flawed.
While millennialists argue that genea means “race” in rare instances, some of them
acknowledge that this is not the “more common and usual meaning of the word” (Archer
339). Certainly, there is no indication that genea is ever employed in that sense in the Gospel
of Matthew--or perhaps in the entire New Testament. Genea is found forty-three times in the
New Testament.
In seventeen of these cases, the expression is “this generation.” In Matthew’s record,
for example, “this generation” is found in 11:16; 12:41,42,45; 23:36; 24:34. A careful
consideration of these passages provides a clear sense of the significance of the expression.
For instance, Jesus, surveying the Jewish wickedness of his day, warned of an impending
punishment. He said: “All these things [the consequences of the Jews’ rebellion] shall come
upon this generation” (Mt. 23:36). Why is it millennialists contend that “this generation” in
23:36 is the generation devastated by the Romans in A.D. 70, but allege that “this generation”
in 24:34 refers to a “future day”? (Barbieri 75,78). Arndt and Gingrich suggest that genea
denotes “basically, the sum total of those born at the same time, expanded to include all those
living at a given time generation, contemporaries” (153). McClintock and Strong state that
the phrase “this generation” in Matthew 24:34 denotes “the generation of persons then living
contemporary with Christ” (776). Herodotus, the Greek historian, said that “three
generations” fill up a “century” (II.142). Thus, to him, a “generation” was a period of
approximately thirty-three years.
It would appear to be obvious that the events described in Matthew 24:4-34 have to
do with the “generation” that was contemporary with the Lord. The Christians could look for
certain tell-tale indicators, detailed by the Savior, and “know” that the Lord’s judgment upon
Jerusalem was near (33). But of “that [the] day” of the Son’s final coming, “knoweth no one”
except the Father (36). There is thus a clear contrast between Christ’s temporal activity,
chronicled prior to verse 34, and that of the Lord’s eternal judgment, to be rendered at the
end of time.
JERUSALEM’S DESTRUCTION FORETOLD
As Jesus left the environs of the sacred area, his disciples directed attention to the
temple compound. The Lord declared that this edifice would be “thrown down” so that not
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one stone would be left upon another (24:2). There is no doubt but that Jesus was uttering an
oracle concerning the destruction of the city by the Roman armies (cf. Mt. 22:7; Lk. 21:20).
Later, on the mount of Olives, the disciples inquired: “When shall these things [the
demolition of the temple] be?” Additionally, they wanted to know what would be the “sign”
of his “coming, and of the end of the world” (3). R.C. Foster has well observed: “Much of
the confusion in interpreting the predictions of Jesus recorded in Matthew 24 and the parallel
passages arises from the failure to see that the disciples asked and Jesus answered two
questions: one, concerning the fall of Jerusalem; the other, concerning his second coming”
(1187). The disciples likely assumed that the destruction of the temple, and the end of the
world, would occur at the same time. The Master sought to correct that impression, first, by
discussing the Roman invasion (4-34), and then by commenting regarding his final coming
to render universal judgment (35-51).
In this presentation, limited space prohibits a detailed consideration of each of the
clues given by Christ in identifying the time of Judaism’s fall. A brief survey will have to
suffice.
The Lord, cataloging some of the events of the forty years to follow, declared (see
verses 5-14): (a) False “messiahs” would arise; (b) there would be numerous military
encounters; (c) famines and earthquakes would occur; (d) disciples would be persecuted; (e)
some would “stumble,” i.e., depart from the faith; (f) false prophets would be prevalent; (g)
decreasing spirituality on the part of some saints would be evident; (h) those who endured
faithful would be delivered from the coming storm; and (i) the gospel would be published
far and wide during these four decades.
As unlikely as some of these prophetic declarations may seem to the skeptic, each of
them was fulfilled by the time Jerusalem fell in A.D. 70. A more thorough discussion of
these matters may be found in J. Marcellus Kik’s volume, Matthew 24, and in Cecil May’s
essay, “Matthew 24,” in The Biblical Doctrine of Last Things.
Continuing, Christ declared that the impending invasion had been announced
prophetically in the book of Daniel (15). The Savior thus urged the disciples to be ready to
flee the city, praying that God would providentially accommodate their departure (16-19).
He described the intensity of the Roman assault and promised that God would intervene for
“the elect’s” sake (21-22). The disciples were not to be swayed by false claims that Jesus had
personally arrived, because, when that event actually occurred, it would be globally evident
(23-27). The Jewish nation was described as a rotting carcass where birds of prey would
gather (28). The fall of the Hebrew system is vividly set forth in the sort of apocalyptic
nomenclature that is characteristic of Old Testament literature, e.g., when the prophets
pictorially portray the overthrow of Jehovah’s enemies (cf. Isa. 13:10-11; 34:2ff; Ezek. 32:7-
8). All of this would be a “sign” of the fact that the Son of man in heaven was orchestrating
these events (29-30). (Note: It is important to observe that the Lord is accomplishing “these
things” from heaven, not from some position upon the earth). The result of Judaism’s demise
would be a great gospel harvest, reminiscent of the Jubilee celebration of Old Testament
fame (31; cf. Lk. 4:17-21).
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Finally, just as the ancient citizen of Palestine could determine the coming of summer
by the budding of the fig tree, even so, by reflecting upon the signals given by Christ, the
disciples would be able to discern the approach of the promised calamity (32-33).
Our major thrust will now be to argue the case that the “signs” of Matthew 24:4ff do
not find their fulfillment in the final return of Christ. Consider the following points.
First, whereas dispensationalists argue for a twentieth century fulfillment of these
“signs,” accompanied by a nuclear holocaust (Lindsey 135-57), contextual indicators clearly
reflect the fact that Jesus had reference to an ancient and local situation. Consider the
following factors. First, the impending destruction would involve the Jewish temple--“the
holy place” (24:15), and the city of Jerusalem (Lk. 21:20) -- not New York, Paris, etc., as
alleged by Lindsey and others. The temple has lain in ruins for more than 19 centuries, and
there is no evidence that it will ever be rebuilt. Second, the Jerusalem disciples were warned
to flee unto the mountains (16)-hardly efficacious advice if a nuclear attack were envisioned.
However, the early Christians understood this admonition, and they fled to Pella, beyond the
Jordan, when the Romans advanced toward the city (Eusebius III.5). Third, Christ warned:
“Let him that is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in his house”
(17). Again, such instruction would hardly be appropriate under the conditions of a nuclear
assault. “On the house top” is the last place one would want to be! But the admonition made
perfect sense in view of the fact that the houses of old Jerusalem were flat-roofed and situated
close to one another. Accordingly, Christians might proceed, by way of “the road of roofs,”
to the edge of the city, thus escaping the invading soldiers (Edersheim 93). Fourth, Jesus
urged: “Pray that your flight be not in the winter” nor “on a Sabbath” (20). This anticipates
primitive conditions when winter travel could be rigorous; moreover, the gates of Jerusalem
would be closed on the Sabbath (Neh. 13:18) which would make escape more difficult.
Second, though the destruction of Jerusalem was seen as a sort of “coming” of Christ
(cf. Mt. 10:23; 24:30,33; Lk. 21:27), i.e., in judgment upon the Hebrew nation, such was
emphatically distinguished from the event known as the “second” coming (cf. Heb. 9:28).
The Lord cautioned that if any false teacher should attempt to proclaim his visible “coming”
in connection with Jerusalem’s fall, the bogus prophet was to be ignored, because the second
coming would be universally apparent (23-27), whereas the destruction of Jerusalem was but
a local event. Jerusalem’s fall would only reflect a “sign” of Christ’s providential “coming”
in destructive judgment upon the holy city (29-31), not the Savior’s visible, final coming.
More on this momentarily.
Third, it is very significant that the Lord, in connection with his discussion of the
destruction of Jerusalem, introduced the remarkable prophecy that had been given five
centuries earlier to the prophet Daniel. Jesus said: “When therefore ye see the abomination
of desolation which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place (let
him that readeth understand), then let them that are in Judea flee ...” (24:15,16). The
dispensational theory argues that the “abomination of desolation” is, from our vantage point,
yet in the future. Supposedly, the prophetic focus is upon “the Antichrist,” alleged to be “a
world dictator” who will “make the temple abominable” in the so-called “Tribulation” period
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just prior to the Lord’s second coming (Barbieri 77). The problem with this view is this:
Daniel connects the appearance of the “abomination that makes desolate” with the first
coming of Christ, not the Lord’s second coming (Dan. 9:24-27)!
Let us, in this connection, briefly examine this fascinating prophecy. There is a three-
fold thrust to the narrative. First, it foretells the “Anointed” one’s advent, and what would be
accomplished thereby. The Messiah would: finish transgression, bring an end to sins, make
reconciliation for iniquity, usher in everlasting righteousness, seal up vision and prophecy,
be anointed as the most holy one, make firm a new covenant, and terminate sacrifices. These
things are associated with Christ’s redemptive work at Calvary--not his second coming. To
suggest that Daniel’s prophecy contains a “long parenthesis,” the “church age” (between the
sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks) which was wholly unknown to the Old Testament prophets,
is without any rational exegetical basis.
Second, the prophecy sets forth a chronological time frame in which the messianic
events would take place. From the time of Judah’s commission to leave Babylonian captivity,
returning to Palestine for the rebuilding of Jerusalem (in 457 B.C.), some 486 1/2 years (set
forth in three increments--with “days” signifying “years”) would pass, thus terminating in
the very year of Jesus’ death (Jackson).
Finally, the terrible price for the Jews’ rejection of their Messiah is graphically
portrayed. As Edward J. Young noted: “As a result or consequence of the death of the
Messiah one making desolate (i.e. the Roman prince Titus) appears ‘upon the wing of
abominations’ (i.e. the pinnacle of the temple). By this language, the complete destruction of
the temple is signified” (679).
It is not without significance that the Jews themselves recognized that the destruction
of Jerusalem by the Romans in A.D. 70 was the fulfillment of Daniel’s prophecy. Josephus,
the Jewish historian, stated that “Daniel also wrote concerning the Roman government, and
that our country should be made desolate by them” (Antiquities, X.XI.7). This view of
“Daniel’s seventy weeks,” commonly called the “traditional” view, “has been held with slight
variation by most Biblical scholars until recent years” (Scott 364).
THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST
Beginning in verses 35ff., the Lord turns his attention to the final day of earth’s
history, the day of his ultimate “coming.” Heaven and earth will pass away, but Christ’s
words will remain inviolate.
Jesus shows that there had been a broad range of indicators- “all these things” --which,
when observed would allow the Christians to escape the horrible Roman invasion (33).
Nevertheless, at the time of the second coming, no such signs would be provided; rather, the
end of the world will occur in a dramatically unannounced fashion. Let us study some of the
Lord’s arguments.
The Savior affirmed: “But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels
of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only” (36). First, observe the use of “but,” an
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adversative particle which stresses a contrast between the previous material and that which
follows. Professor Kik comments that this verse “gives immediate evidence of a change in
subject matter” (101). In verses 4-34 the Lord had spoken of the “days” (plural) of tribulation
associated with Jerusalem’s peril (19,22,29), but now it is “the day” (singular)--an expression
commonly used of the final day of history (cf. 1 Cor. 3:13; 1 Thes. 5:4; 2 Tim. 1:12).
Second, observe that even Jesus himself did not know when “the day” of his coming
(cf. 37) would occur. Yet, he had given signs whereby others might “know” (33) that he was
providentially “nigh” in the destruction of Jerusalem. Obviously, therefore, the two events
were not the same. Is it not rather ironical that Christ, who gave these “signs,” did not know
(while on earth) when his return would take place, but modern dispensationalists can read
Matthew 24 and virtually pinpoint the time of the second coming! In 1992 Harold Camping,
a syndicated television preacher, wrote: “The results of this study indicate that the month of
September of the year 1994 is to be the time for the end of history” (531).
Third, Christ cited an historical example, that of the ante-diluvian population which
demonstrated that those of the pre-flood world were unaware of their impending doom “until
the flood came, and took them all away.” The point is “so shall be the coming of the Son of
man” (39). Catastrophic and without warning!
Fourth, Jesus appealed to certain cultural circumstances to depict the sudden,
unanticipated nature of his return. Two men would be working in the field; one would be
taken, the other left (40). Two women will be grinding at the mill; one is taken, one is left
(41). Then, in a parallel reference, two men are in bed; one is taken, the other is left” (Lk.
17:34). One scholar has observed that these references contemplate different times of the
day--early morning (grinding at the mill), mid-day (working in the field), and night (in bed),
thus suggesting that when Christ returns, it will be day in some places, but night in others-
day and night, at the same time (Collett 277). This could not have reference to the destruction
of Jerusalem, but it must represent a “coming” of the Lord that will affect men globally.
Additionally, during Jerusalem’s calamity, it was not a matter of some taken/some left; all
were taken! More than a million Jews were slaughtered and thousands of others were taken
into foreign slavery (Josephus Wars VI.IX). Geldenhuys states that “not a single Jew was left
alive in the city or its vicinity” (III 141).
Fifth, the Lord refers to a societal situation. The final day will be like the coming of
a thief, who never warns or gives clues as to the time of his encroachment (42,43). The
Christian thus is cautioned to “watch,” for in an hour “that ye think not the Son of man
cometh” (44). Again, the point is: The time of Jesus’ return cannot be anticipated. This clearly
divorces the Lord’s second coming from those circumstances associated with the fall of
Jerusalem.
CONCLUSION
As we conclude, we feel compelled to emphasize again: (1) Those who view Matthew
24 as a thematic unit, pertaining only to end-of-time things, are wrong in their view of this
context. This is the error of dispensational premillennialism. (2) Those who would merge
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24:4-34 with 24:35-51, asserting that the entire chapter refers to the destruction of Jerusalem
(as do those of the “realized eschatology” school), are also mistaken in their concept of this
chapter.
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “At His Coming” - 1998, Wayne Jackson: Matthew
24. Pages 185-192.
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MATTHEW 24
(Roy Deaver)
There is no way that we can understand as we ought and appreciate as we ought the
great “Olivet Discourse” without understanding the larger context. However, because of
space limitations we begin this study with consideration of:
I. THE DISCIPLES’ QUESTIONS
In order for us to understand the Olivet Discourse we must understand the disciples’
question or questions; Jesus went out from the temple. He was going on His way. His
disciples came to Him. They came to “point out” to Him (and to call His attention to) the
temple buildings. Likely, this was in view of the Lord’s statement in 23:38 “Behold, your
house is left unto you desolate.”
The Lord “answered and said unto them: See ye not all things? Verily I say unto you,
there shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” Not a
single stone would be left in place!
The Lord’s statement about Jerusalem and the temple buildings were enough to
astound the disciples.
The Lord sat somewhere on the western slope of Olivet. The disciples came to Him
to ask Him privately about “these things.” Matthew records that the disciples asked:
When shall these things be?

What shall be the sign of thy coming?
What shall be the sign of the end of the world? (24:3).
Mark says that the disciples asked the Lord –

When shall these things be?
What shall be the sign when these things are all about to be accomplished? (13:4).
Luke says that the disciples asked the Lord -

When therefore shall these things be?
What shall be the sign when these things are about to come to pass? (21:7).
Matthew’s account, at least on the surface, seems to indicate three questions. However, it has
to be recognized that the disciples might have been thinking of one event. Then, when we
consider the parallel accounts it becomes obvious that even in Matthew’s account the
disciples were indeed thinking of one stupendous event. They associated the overthrow of
the stones with the end of the world. They associated the end of the world with the Lord’s
final coming. It is the conviction of this writer that the three accounts of the disciples’
questions are identical in meaning. They were thinking of the final coming and of the end of
the world. They assumed that “these things” which the Lord talked about would take place
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at the end of the world. However, it DOES NOT FOLLOW necessarily that they were correct
in their assumption. In thinking about the Lord’s final coming, the end of the world, and the
destruction of the beautiful temple buildings the disciples really asked two questions: (1)
When shall these things be? and (2) what shall be the sign when these things are about to
come to pass? The TIME and the SIGN. In answering the disciples, the Lord discusses two
comings and two ends of two worlds. He discusses His coming in judgment upon Jerusalem
(to mark the end of Judaism and the Jewish nation); and He discusses His coming for final
judgment (to mark the end of the world). In dealing with each of these matters the Lord kept
in mind the disciples’ questions: the TIME and the SIGN.
II. THE JERUSALEM COMING
The mere fact of reference to the Lord’s coming does not prove that reference is made
to His final coming. The Scriptures refer to: (1) The Lord’s first coming to live among men;
(2) His coming on Pentecost of Acts 2 (Mt. 16:28); (3) His coming in human experiences
(Rev. 2:16; 3:20); (4) His final coming (I Thess. 4:16); and (5) His coming in judgment upon
Jerusalem (Mt. 24:30; 26:64; Zech. 14:1, 2). The Providential destruction of Jerusalem is
definitely called a coming of the Lord. This coming was spoken of frequently in the Old
Testament prophecies. It is this coming which our Lord discusses in verses 4 through 35.
Perhaps this is the proper point at which to stress the significance of the words “these
things” in this context. The Lord has used these words in 23:36 “all these things shall come
upon this generation.” In 24:3 the disciples asked: “... when shall these things be?” The Lord
had just said, “See ye not all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left here
one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down” (24:2). In verse 8 the Lord said, “But
all these things are the beginning of travail.” In verse 33 the Lord says, “. . . even so ye also,
when ye see all these things, know ye that he is nigh, even at the doors.” Then, in verse 34
the Lord continues: “Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all these
things be accomplished.” Clearly, in all these verses the words “these things” refer to the
same thing and definitely relate to the destruction of Jerusalem not to the Lord’s final coming.
In relationship to the destruction of Jerusalem, and especially in connection with signs

that might mislead the Lord issued a warning: “Take heed that no man lead you astray.” He
then sets forth the reasons for this warning: “For many shall come in my name, saying, I am
the Christ; and shall lead many astray.” Historians (Justin, Jerome, lranaeus. Origen,
Josephus) record the fact that immediately prior to the destruction of Jerusalem there were
many deceivers and many false christs. The Lord said further: “And ye shall hear of wars and
rumors of wars; see that ye be not troubled: for these things must needs come to pass: but the
end is not yet. ” Wars and rumors of wars would come. But these things did not constitute
the end which the Lord had in mind and about which He was speaking. The Lord continued:
“For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there shall be
famines and earthquakes in divers places.” This is an amazing statement from our Lord. At
the time, He made it there was peace within the Roman Empire. Shortly after the Olivet
prophecy Palestine and other parts of the Roman Empire were engulfed in strife,
insurrections, and wars.
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Even extra-Biblical history records the earthquakes and famines characteristic of the
years prior to the destruction of Jerusalem. During this time the Jews themselves suffered
indescribable persecution. Thousands were put to death. And again the Lord stressed that
these things were not the end. Rather, “. . . these things are the beginning of travail.” The
Lord continued: “Then shall they deliver you up unto tribulation, and shall kill you: and ye
shall be hated of all the nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many stumble, and shall
deliver up one another, and shall hate one another. And many prophets shall arise, and shall
lead many astray. And because iniquity shall be multiplied, the love of many shall wax cold.”
False christs, wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, tribulation, hatred, persecution,
false prophets, iniquity, spiritual coldness these things would come, but these things would
not be the end. Then the Lord said, “But he that endureth to the end the same shall be saved.”
This is a wonderful promise.
The “end” considered in this section is the destruction of Jerusalem. Those persons
who would endure the sufferings and the agonies which would be inherent in the times
preceding the end are promised deliverance when that end would come. The Lord continues
to think about the end. The Lord says, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in
the whole world for a testimony unto all the nations; and then shall the end come.” We seek
to emphasize that the Lord is not speaking here of the final end the end of the world -but of
the destruction of Jerusalem and the end of the Jewish nation. Before the “end” the gospel of
the kingdom would be preached to the whole world. And, the New Testament declares that
this was literally the case. The faith of the saints in Rome was spoken of “throughout the
whole world” (Rom. 1:8). By the time of Paul’s letter to the brethren at Colossae the gospel
was “bearing fruit and increasing” in “all the world” (Col. 1:6). Further, Paul plainly declares
that at the time of the Colossian letter the gospel had been “preached in all creation under
heaven” (Col. 1:23).
With regard to “the end” which the Lord contemplates throughout this section may
we note: (1) It is not identical with wars and rumors of wars; (2) It is not identical with the
troublesome times described; (3) The terrible circumstances preceding it could be endured;
(4) Salvation (deliverance) is promised those who did endure; and (5) It would come after
the gospel had been preached to the whole world. What about the TIME of the destruction of
Jerusalem? It would not come before the gospel had been preached to the whole world.
Having considered many signs which would not indicate the end, but which could be
misleading; and having stressed that Jerusalem would not be destroyed until after the gospel
had been preached to the whole world -the Lord then discussed the REAL SIGN. He keeps
in mind the TIME and the SIGN of the destruction of Jerusalem.
What would be the real Sign in connection with the destruction of Jerusalem? The
“abomination of desolation Standing in the holy place.” The Lord said: “When therefore ye
see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing
in the holy place (let him that readeth understand) then let them that are in Judaea flee unto
the mountains: let him that is on the housetop not go down to take out the things that are in
his house: and let him that is in the field not return back to take his cloak” (verses 15-18).
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That the Lord refers to a local (not a universal) event is evident from this reading. If
reference is to the final coming and judgment and the end of the world there would be no
point in one’s fleeing to the mountains. With regard to the impending destruction discussed
here haste would be essential. but. there will be no need for one to make haste in trying to
escape the final events.
Daniel, in chapter 9, spake of the “abomination of desolation.” God, through Gabriel,

told Daniel: “Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city.” The
70 weeks are divided into three sections: 7 weeks, 62 weeks, and 1 week. The 70 weeks were
determined with a view to six things: (1) to finish the transgression, (2) to make an end of
sins, (3) to make reconciliation for iniquity, (4) to bring in everlasting righteousness, (5) to
seal up the vision and prophecy, and (6) to anoint or consecrate the Holy of Holies. These six
things obviously relate to the Christ His being, His mission, and His church.
He came to deal with the problem of sin, to make possible God’s plan for man’s
righteousness, to establish His church. The 70 weeks would bring to a completion the
development of the Scheme of Redemption. Likely, the “anointing of the Holy of Holies”
refers to the establishment of the church. The 7 weeks span the time from the decree of Cyrus
to the end of Nehemiah’s work. The 62 weeks span the time from the end of Nehemiah’s
work to the coming of the Messiah. The 1 week clearly is the personal ministry of the Christ.
The 62 weeks come after the 7 weeks, and the 1 week comes after the 62 weeks (thus after
69 weeks). During the final week the Messiah would confirm the covenant with many. In the
midst of the week He would cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease. In the midst of the
week the Messiah would be cut off. In this connection the prophecy stresses that “ . . . the
people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sancturary; and the end
thereof shall be with flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined” (verse
26).
The Record further says, “. . . and upon the wing of abominations shall come one that
maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall wrath be poured out
upon the desolate” (ASV, verse 27). It should be pointed out that the prophecy does not say
that the city would be destroyed within the span of the one week. Rather, it says that within
that week the destruction of the city was determined. One could hardly read verses 26 and 27
without recalling our Lord’s words: “Behold, your house is left unto you desolate” (Mt.
23:38).
The word “abominations” in the Old Testament has an association with idolatry. In
the present reading it likely retains this significance, and has a direct reference to those things
which the Roman soldiers brought into the Temple. The “abomination of desolation” means
the presence of the Roman army. In the parallel account Luke says, “But when ye see
Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that her desolation is at hand” (Lk. 21:20).
Josephus says: “And now the Romans, upon the burning of the holy house itself, and of all
the buildings round about it, brought their ensigns to the Temple, and set them over against
its eastern gate; and there did they offer sacrifice to them.”
What was to be done when the real sign was evident? The Lord said: “Let them that
are in Judaea flee unto the mountains: let him that is on the housetop not go down to take out
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the things that are in his house: and let him that is in the field not return back to take his
cloak.” The Lord said further: “But woe unto them that are with child and to them that give
suck in those days! And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on a sabbath:
for then shall be great tribulation, such as hath not been from the beginning of the world until
now, no, nor ever shall be.”
The Lord said, “And except those days had been shortened, no flesh would have been
saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.” Again, it is obvious that the
Lord was discussing a local event and one that related specifically to the Jews. Because of
His concern for the faithful God would shorten the days of war (the period of war). It is a
fact of history that in the siege of Jerusalem NOT A CHRISTIAN PERISHED! The Lord had
given them the Sign. They knew the sign, and when they saw the Sign they fled as He had
instructed them. Even during this time of terrible tribulation there would be false teachers
and deceivers. The Lord says, “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is the Christ, or
here; believe it not. For there shall arise false christs, and false prophets, and shall show great
signs and wonders; so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. Behold, I have told you
beforehand. If therefore they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the wilderness; go not forth:
Behold, he is in the inner chamber; believe it not.”
This means simply that “If at that time anybody shall try to make you think that all
this means that the Lord has come in the sense of His final coming, don ’t believe it! Because
when the Lord comes finally -everybody will know about it. “For as the lightning cometh
forth from the east, and is seen even unto the west; so, shall be the coming of the Son of
man.” The Lord says further: “Wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles (vultures) be
gathered together.” The Lord thus declared that the Jewish nation was a dead carcase. The
vultures the Roman army under General Titus, would gather for its complete destruction.
The Lord has referred to the “tribulation” of “those days” immediately preceding the
actual destruction of Jerusalem (verses 21 and 23). Now, in verses 29 and 30, he says; “But
immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall
not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall
be shaken: and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven
with power and great glory.” There would be the appearance of the Son of man. This would
not be a literal presence of the Christ, but His coming in judgment upon Jerusalem and the
Jewish nation. This “appearance” in judgment would be the SIGN. The SIGN would be on
earth, in Jerusalem. The destruction of Jerusalem would be THE SIGN of the coming of the
Lord, and would be conclusive evidence that He was reigning IN HEAVEN!
It is commonly assumed that the vivid descriptive used in verses 29 and 30 relate to
the Lord’s final coming and the end of the world. However, such an assumption is entirely
without warrant. The Lord employs apocalyptic terminology with which the disciples would
be completely familiar. It is imperative that we be familiar with the same kind of terminology
which is employed in the Old Testament. In Isa. 13, and with regard to the destruction of
Babylon, the Record says: “ . . . the Lord of host mustereth the host of the battle . . . the day
of the Lord is at hand . . . Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and
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fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For
the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be
darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine . . . I will punish
the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity . . . I will shake the heavens, and the
earth shall remove out of her place . . . and Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the
Chaldees’ excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.” In Isa. 34 the
Record speaks about the overthrow of Idumea: “And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved,
and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the
leaf falleth off from the vine . . . For my sword shall be bathed in heaven: behold, it shall
come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment” (verses 4 and 5).
In Eze. 32 God speaks about the downfall of Egypt. God says, “I will cover the heaven, and
make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give
her light. All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over thee, and set darkness upon
thy land . . . ” (verses 7 and 8).
The same terminology which God uses in discussing the overthrow of Babylon,
Idumea, and Egypt is that which the Lord used in discussing the overthrow of Jerusalem and
the Jewish nation. The reading simply says -vividly ~-emphatically, apocalyptically that
immediately after the tribulation of those days Jerusalem would be destroyed, and that this
destruction of Jerusalem would be the SIGN (the evidence) of the Lord’s coming (His
presence in judgment, Cf. II Cor. 7:6). The fact of the destruction would be conclusive
evidence that He was involved and that He was reigning in heaven. The statement “ . . . and
they shall see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory”
does not refer to the Lord’s final coming. Rather, as already stressed, it refers to the Lord’s
coming in powerful judgment. In Isa. 19:], and with regard to Egypt, the Record says:
“Behold, the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of
Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.”
This, the same kind of language we have in Matt. 24.
After this coming of the Lord in judgment upon Jerusalem and the Jewish nation the
gospel message would go forth with greater force and effectiveness. “And he shall send forth
his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the
four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” The “he” refers to the Lord Himself. The
word “angel” means “message” or “messenger,” and it is our studied conviction that
reference is here made to those teachers and preachers of the gospel who would be involved
in getting the whole gospel to the whole world. The fall of Jerusalem and of the Jewish nation
would contribute mightily (in the power and providence of God) to the spread of the gospel
of Christ. The “great sound of a trumpet” is the sound of the gospel of the Christ. God’s only
saving power. This beautiful terminology is likely 3 reference to Old Testament Jubilee. The
year of Jubilee (Lev. 25) prefigured the wonderful redemption, freedom, and the salvation to
be had in the Christ, and upon the terms of the gospel.
In verses 32 and 33 the Lord spake the beautiful parable of the fig tree. He says, “Now
from the fig tree learn her parable: when her branch in now become tender, and putteth forth
its leaves, ye know that the summer is nigh; even so ye also, when ye see all these things,
know ye that he is nigh, even at the doors.” Just as the tender branch and the leaves of the fig
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tree would indicate the nearness of summer, just so “these things” which have been discussed
including the destruction of Jerusalem would indicate the nearness of the Lord Himself.
If further proof is needed that in verses 4 through 33 the Lord has been discussing one
thing the destruction of Jerusalem we have that proof in verses 34 and 35. Jesus said, “Verily
I say unto you, this generation shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished.”
Then, for emphasis, He adds: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not
pass away.” The word “generation” in this reading means exactly the same thing that it means
in chapter 23, verse 36, where the Lord said “All these things shall come upon this
generation.” Some would contend that the word “generation” here means “race of people,”
and that the Lord was referring to the Jewish race. This would have the Lord saying, “These
things are going to happen to this race, and this race will not pass away until these things
happen to it.” Such redundancy would not have been characteristic of our Lord.
It would be interesting (and indeed, profitable) for one to study the word “generation”
used elsewhere in Matthew. In Matt. 12:41 the Lord said, “The men of Nineveh shall stand
up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it . . .” In verse 42 he says, “The
queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it . .
.” Men have no trouble understanding the meaning of “generation” in these verses they
should have no trouble understanding it in Matt. 24:34. There would be no escape, and no
change of plans. The Lord’s words would be fulfilled.
III. THE FINAL COMING
Verses 4 through 35 relate to the Lord’s coming in judgment Upon Jerusalem and the
Jewish nation. “All these things” were fulfilled when Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 ad. The
Roman General Titus saw to it that the walls of the city were completely destroyed, and that
the temple and its buildings were thoroughly demolished. They even plowed the ground upon
which had stood the great city. Josephus states that “ . . . there was left nothing to make those
who had come thither believe it had ever been inhabited.” Verily, not one stone was left upon
another.
With verse 36 the Lord begins discussing the final coming, the final judgment, and
the end of the world. It seems obvious that the Lord was using the destruction of Jerusalem
as a type of the end of the world. Whereas the Lord has been discussing “those days,” He
now makes reference to “that day. " The Greek says, “that the day.” Obviously, this is a
transition text. The Lord says, “But of that day and hour knoweth no one, not even the angels
of heaven, neither the Son, but the Father only.” With regard to the time of the destruction of
Jerusalem the Lord had explained that He had knowledge, and that by listening to what He
had to say, others could have knowledge. But, so far as concerned the Lord’s final coming
and judgment, and end of the world He had no knowledge, and men had no knowledge. Not
even the angels know of the time of this matter -only the Father knows.
In verses 37 through 40 the Lord explained that preceding the final coming men would
be acting in normal fashion. Whereas, the days preceding the destruction of Jerusalem would
be days of turmoil and tribulation, the days preceding the final coming would be days
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characterized by normal activities and conduct upon the part of men. Note carefully the
reading: “And as were the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. For as in
those days which were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving
in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they knew not until the flood
came, and took them all away; so, shall be the coming of the Son of man. Then shall two men
be in the field; one is taken, and one is left: two women shall be grinding at the mill: one is
taken, and one is left.”
Because no one knows the time of the Lord’s final coming, and because the days
preceding it will be characterized by normal activities and conduct, and because there are no
signs it will be necessary for the concerned to “watch” and to “be ready.” “Watch therefore:
for ye know not on what day your Lord cometh. But know this, that if the master of the house
had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have watched, and would not have
suffered his house to be broken through. Therefore, be ye also ready: for in an hour that ye
think not the Son of man cometh” (verses 42-44). The Lord thus set forth (1) the fact of His
coming, (2) the importance of watching, (3) the unexpectedness of His coming, (4) the
suddenness of His coming, (5) the fact that proper preparation can be made, and (6) the
necessity of being ready.
The Lord next stresses the importance of our being faithful servants, and declares that
the faithful servants shall be rewarded. “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom his
lord hath set over his household, to give them their food in due season? Blessed is that
servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he
will set him over all that he hath” (verses 45-47). The Lord teaches that the wicked servant
shall be punished: “But if that evil servant shall say in his heart, my lord tarrieth; and shall
begin to beat his fellow-servants, and shall eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that
servant shall come in a day when he expecteth not, and in an hour when he knoweth not, and
shall cut him asunder, and appoint his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be the weeping
and gnashing of teeth.” In these verses -and with regard to the final coming -the Lord thus
taught: (l) the fact of it, (2) the necessity of faithfulness, (3) the faithful servant shall be
rewarded, (4) the wicked servant shall be punished, (5) the possibility that the Lord may tarry,
and (6) the unexpectedness of His coming.
CONCLUSION
When we conclude our study at the end of chapter 24 we are stopping before the
sermon is over. The Lord’s great sermon continues through chapter 25. The Lord discusses
the “Parable of the ten virgins,” the “Parable of the talents,” then “His coming, the judgment,
and the end of the world.” With regard to the Lord’s COMING in JUDGMENT to put an
END to Jerusalem and the Jewish nation -
1. So far as concerned the TIME -it would be within that contemporary generation;
2. So far as concerned the SIGNS there would be
(1) Possible misleading signs;
(2) The sign by which the righteous would know to flee;
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(3) The sign of the Lord’s presence in judgment, and of His reigning in heaven
the destruction of Jerusalem would be that sign.
With regard to the Lord’s final COMING in JUDGMENT to mark the END of the
world:
1. So far as concerns the TIME -only the Father knows;
2. So far as concerns SIGNS there will be NONE!
“Premillennialism True or False?” Roy Deaver: Matthew 24. Pages 105-114.
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MATTHEW 24: JUDGEMENT UPON JERUSALEM
(Keith Mosher, Sr)
When the ancient Hebrew prophets ceased writing around the fourth century B.C., a
type of writing, latent in prophecy, was adopted to replace the no-longer present prophetic
oracles.7 The “apocalyptic” borrowed quotations, imagery, similes, and metaphors from the
Old Testament to produce uninspired intertestamental writings. However, instead of
predicting, as the prophets had, a literal Messiah to come, the apocalyptic writers began
changing the events and predicting no more than a spiritual kingdom.8 The reason for the
change (uninspired) seems to have been that those apocalyptic writers felt that the prophecies
of the Old Testament writers had not been fulfilled.9 Further, the lsraelitish concepts of God
and history fed the formation of the idea that Israel’s suffering was so great that history was
completely abandoned to evil and could no longer be the vehicle for the Messianic kingdom
One of the hallmarks of apocalyptic language, then, is its use in times of evil and oppression
for and of God's people and that salvation could not come in history but only beyond it.
The students of Matthew twenty-four must be mindful of the Jewish apocalyptic

usage in order to be somewhat understanding of the question asked the Lord by His disciples
concerning Jerusalem’s destruction and the “end of the age” (Matt. 24:5). Why did not the
disciples use kosmos (world) instead of ainos (age) in their inquiry? Because of the influence
of apocalyptic, non-inspired, intertestamental writers, many Jews believed that the new
Messianic world would be inaugurated by a cosmic catastrophe bringing history to a close
and introducing an entirely different way of life. The new age would be heavenly where there
would be no more oppression of the Jews.11 Perhaps such reasoning as the latter affected
Jesus’ disciples in their end-time beliefs. Further literary considerations that help in
understanding what questions or question the disciples thought they were asking are the very
natures of apocalyptic language.
The intertestamental period gave rise to two types of literature apocryphal (in which
apocalyptic language is mostly absent) and pseudepigrapha. The latter material is filled with
apocalyptic imagery. (Apocalyptic writings, incidentally, insisted that the Messianic
kingdom would only be established after judgment)”
A summary of Jewish apocalyptic thought might be:
1. God’s creation has been usurped by Satan (l Enoch 90:16-18; IV Ezra 5:6; 6:18;
Sib. 5:65f.).
2. God will recreate the world as a “heavenly” realm of a designated time, restoring
the usurped creation (I Enoch 1:7; Jub. 1:29; II Enoch 65:7; etc.).
3. The “new heavens and new earth” will be eternally established by God and will
never again be influenced by Satan (1 Enoch 5627; etc.).
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4. The “last days” were, unlike the Old Testament prophecies, no longer a part of the
Messianic kingdom (l Enoch 10:18-20; lV Ezra 6:26; etc.).”
Given all of the above, the careful Bible student will be aware that it is possible that
Jesus’ disciples thought they were asking just one question (Matt. 24:5). The Lord, who had
inspired the Old Testament prophets, would know to correct the question and its answer if
the inquiry were indeed eschatologically incorrect. No Bible student should read Matthew
24:5 and automatically assume just one question was being asked by the disciples even
though they may have thought there was but one.
Prologue
From Matthew 25:54-59 one is made to understand the grief in God’s heart over His
temple city of Jerusalem and that all of God’s dealings with Israel had pointed to a
culmination in the generation addressed, which generation would suffer the fulness of Israel’s
guilt and the penalty for her sins: “that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon
the earth...” (Matt. 25:55). Every generation in Israel from Abel to Zacharias, from the first
martyr (Gen. 4:8) to the last prophet (II Chron. 24:20-22), would be punished for its sins in
one last representative generation (Matt. 25:36).
God had given Israel (Jerusalem) countless opportunities to be saved, but she would
not (Matt. 25:57). God does not send people to destruction; they send themselves through
unyielding disobedience. Therefore their” house" (probably the “house” of Israel as
represented by the city) would be “desolate.”
Israel would never see Jesus (Messiah) again until she said,” Blessed is he that cometh
in the name of the Lord” (Matt. 25:59). The premillennialist insists that the latter sentence
means that” Israel will receive her Messiah when He returns to establish the kingdom on
earth.”[6 The ”AD. 70" advocate, who believes that Jesus’ second coming occurred in AD.
70, thinks that verse thirty-nine references his position.‘7 However, it is necessary to exegete
Matthew twenty-four to arrive at the meaning 'of ”Blessed is he that cometh in the name of
the Lord." The sentence does not state that Jesus is coming, but that someone is coming under
the authority of the Messiah. (That person was the leader of the Roman army, as the reader
will be made aware as the text of chapter twenty-four is explored.)
A last comment on Matthew twenty-three is vital to understanding the next chapter.

Note the phrase "these things” in Matthew 25:56. The phrase is found in Matthew 24:2, 8,
55, and 54. However, instead of “these things” at Matthew 24:56, there is that day by way of
contrast. The view to be proposed here is that Matthew 24: 1-55 is a coming in judgment on
Jerusalem (i.e., Israel). Matthew 24:56 through 25:46 is the second coming and, therefore,
Jesus did view the disciples’ inquiries as having multiple parts (Matt. 24:3).
The Text
A textual analysis of Matthew twenty-four might be:
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1. The Lord’s prophecy of Jerusalem’s destruction (W. 1-2).
2. The disciples ask him at least two questions and perhaps three (v. 3).
5. The Lord’s “coming” on Jerusalem (W. 34:35). Verse twenty-seven does reference
the second coming, for Jesus intended that the disciples learn the difference between
His coming in judgment on Jerusalem and His coming to judge all.
4. The Lord’s second coming (v. 56ff).
And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for
to shew him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all
these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another,
that shall not be thrown down (Matt. 24:1-2).
One should be sure to take into account Mark 15:1-57, which closely parallels
Matthew’s text, and Luke 21:6-55 when studying the judgment on Jerusalem. One important
example of such a comparison is Luke 21:20-21, which closely parallels Matthew 24:16-20.
It is obvious that both passages refer to some judgment in a historical era, for at the actual
second coming one would not “flee into the mountains” (Matt. 24:16; Luke 21:21).
Too, no one will be “led away captive into all nations” at the second coming (Luke
21:24). This second passage from Luke has no parallel statement in Matthew, but since Luke
21:21-22 does, the diligent Bible student can infer that the Matthew text (24:155) is about
judgment on Jerusalem, not about the second coming.
Further, in verses one and two of Matthew twenty-four Jesus mentions the tearing
down of the literal stones of the temple. Josephus writes of those stones:
Now, the temple was built of stones that were white and strong, and each of their
length was twenty-five cubits, their height was eight, and their breadth about
twelve....He (Herod, KM.) also built a wall below, beginning at the bottom, which
was encompassed by a deep valley; and at the south side he laid rocks together, and
bound them one to another with lead...till the vastness of the stones in the front were
plainly visible on the outside, yet so that the inward parts were fastened with iron, and
preserved the joints unmovable for all future times.
If Matthew twenty-four only refers to the second coming, why did Jesus mention the stones
being removed? At the second coming everything existing will be annihilated (ll Peter 5:10-
15)!
The immense walls of the temple court and the size of the edifice itself seemed to
indicate a permanent structure. The surprise of Jesus’ prophecy led to the disciples’ questions.
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And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying,
Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of
the end of the world? (24:25).
The timing, of the question and Jesus’ response, was suitable for such an utterance. Jesus
knew that His death was imminent, and He was fully aware of the moral and religious decay
in lsrael (Matt. 25:159). At such times of crises, apocalyptic language, in the Hebrew
tradition, is inevitable. The goal of such a prediction, since Jesus would be uttering true
prophecy, would be ethical. The disciples would be forewarned and forearmed about the
approaching temple destruction and the truth about Jesus’ second coming so that they could
be morally (spiritually) prepared.
Even though the inquirers seemingly took for granted that “these things” (the
destruction of Jerusalem), His coming, and the “end of the age” were one and the same, the
disciples will learn differently. ln Mark’s account there seems to be only one question as well
as in Luke (Mark 15:14; Luke 21:7). But, since the term parousia was used by the disciples
as Matthew records the conversation, one is led to know that the Holy Spirit was indicating
the second presence (parousia) of Christ (i.e., His second coming; e.g. II Thess. 5:115).20
Parousia is the technical term for the second advent.”
Yet, Max King said in his debate with Gus Nichols:
AD. 70 was the end of the world, the destruction of the temple, the coming of Christ
(Matt. 24:1-5). This was when heaven and earth passed away (Matt. 24:55; Rev. 20:1
1). This was when the greater and more perfect tabernacle was entered by all the
redeemed.
King further asserted that the “destruction of Jerusalem did not leave unfulfilled one single
prophecy, promise, or blessing/’23 But Jesus' parousia has not yet occurred since every eye
has not yet seen such an advent (Rev. 1:7)! King must use parousia figuratively in order to
propagate his doctrine. He makes the same error Jewish, pseudepigraphic, apolcalyptists did!
Jesus explains to the disciples that there is a sign for the time of Jerusalem’s destruction
(Matt. 24:58). What is the sign of the destruction of Jerusalem? (They too, as seen above,
believed the Messianic second advent and His kingdom and Jerusalem’s rebirth were all one
event.)
And Jesus answered and said unto them, take heed that no man deceive you. For many
shall come in my name, saying I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
Unlike many today who study Matthew twenty-four just out of curiosity, Jesus
intended that the discourse be practical in guarding His followers against deception and
terror. The destruction of the temple might (and did) lead to revolt against Rome, and the
deepest cause of revolution would be Messianic. Josephus, in fact, testifies that the need for
Messiah was the chief incentive against Rome.” However, Jesus was not an earthly, military
Messiah (John 18:56).
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And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these
things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation,
and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and
earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows (24:6-8).
Christ said, melleesete, that is, you are all about to hear of some things.25 There will be wars,
uprisings, and sorrow; but not one of those things is a sign of anything. So, Christ’s disciples
should not think that every report of some difficulty, especially in Palestine, means that
Jerusalem is about to fall. Wars, famines, pestilences, and earthquakes are “business as usual”
in every generation and are not a sign of anything.
The term beginning, a term used of Jesus as the “beginning” of all things (Col. 1:18),
indicates clearly that such things precede the actual fall of Jerusalem but are not connected
to the crisis. Christ’s disciples are not to panic (as every premillennialist does) at every
catastrophic occurrence or rumor of world tragedy.
Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted. and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated
of all nations for my name's sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray
one another, and shall hate one another. And many false prophets shall rise, and shall
deceive many. And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the
kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then
shall the end come (24:9-14).
The experiences of the disciples will also be proof that the destruction of Jerusalem
was not immediate. The disciples were not to sit idly by and wait for the temple to burn. They
were to be out preaching the gospel. Which is exactly what they did (Col. 1:5). Of course,
Jesus warned them that they would suffer for such activity; and they did (cf. Acts 4, 5, 12
etc.).
There were also false prophets who arose within the Christian community, as Jesus
predicted (II Peter 2: 1ft). The term iniquity (v. 12) is from anomian and has the sense of
“against law” or godlessness. Christ predicted that there would be a group of false teachers
who would be against law and cause many to stop loving the brotherhood. (Such false
teachers are rampant in and out of the church today. They are anti-law, grace-only, and
whether they know it or not are labeling Jesus as a false prophet. He said there would be law
in the Christian age; otherwise how could the false prophets be against law?) When the “end”
of Jerusalem came, would the false teachers win or would the Christians still be faithful? The
latter question may be posed today for those of this generation who await judgment.
The point of all of this prophecy about false teachers and preaching the gospel
everywhere is again to indicate that no such things are signs of anything at all concerned with
some immediate destruction of Jerusalem. But, there is a certain and sure sign.
When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the
prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) (Matt. 24:15).
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The Old Testament reference is to Daniel 9:27 which reads:
And he shall confirm [make firm, ASV) the covenant with many for one week: and
in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for
the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the
consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
God (and Christ) covenanted firmly that the Jew would receive the gospel first (Matt.
10:5). The covenant was for one full “week” (i.e., seven full years).26 Christ was crucified
in the middle of the “week" (after three and one-half years of ministry), and after the church
began on the last Pentecost, the Jew was the only one who heard the gospel for the rest of
that “week.”27 Turner writes:
Daniel was shown further that another, ”the people of the prince (Titus) that shall
come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a
flood, and even unto the end shall be war; desolations are determined,” and ”upon the
wing of abominations (observe, upon the wing of abominations) not a part of the one
week, but a time following after the one week that is, with the swiftness of a bird or
within a generation shall come one (Titus) that maketh desolate (empty, or without
existence); and even unto a full end (or complete destruction), and that determined
(determined by the Almighty as a just retribution for the Jews' rejection of the
Messiah) shall wrath be poured out upon the desolate (Dan. 9:26-27).28
The above prophecy from Daniel of the entrance of a pagan into the temple is called
an “abomination of desolation.” Titus’ entrance in AD. 70 was prefigured by one Antiochus
Epiphanes in 167-165 B.C. (Dan. 8:9-14). When Jerusalem was under siege from foreign
armies, the disciples were to be certain that the time of “when shall these things be” would
be upon them. Luke defines the “abomination of desolation” writing: “And when ye shall see
Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh” (Luke
21:20).29 The Christians were warned what to do once they saw the armies.
Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the
housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is
in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and
to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter,
neither on the sabbath day.
If Jesus were prophesying about His second coming, there would be no admonition
to flee. The warnings from the Lord are all centered around flight from Jerusalem. There
would be no time during the siege of the city for saving household goods, and those with
Children would find it difficult to run. Especially would fleeing be difficult on a sabbath day
when Jerusalem would be overcrowded. Yet, Turner notes:
According to the historians, all the disciples, on beholding the coming of those signs
especially the appearance of Titus, the son of Vespasian did flee unto Pella, an
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important city of the Decapolis in the Transjordan area. R. L. Alden wrote: “The city
earned a name in church history in AD. 66 when Pella became a refuge for Christians
who were fleeing Jerusalem because the Roman army was coming to quiet a Jewish
revolution.
Bible students have often wondered how the Christians were able to flee from the
city. How did God make such an escape possible?
And except those day should be shortened, there should not flesh be saved: but for
the elect’s sake those days should be shortened.
Josephus notes that a leader of the Roman army named Gallus, the ”commander of
the twelfth legion” was sent by one Cestius with as ”many forces as he supposed sufficient
to subdue that nation/3' While Gallus attacked some Jews at a city called Asamon, Cestius
besieged Jerusalem. But, for some inexplicable (to Josephus) reason, Cestius withdrew from
the siege. Josephus writes:
it then happened that Cestius was not conscious either how the besieged despaired of
success, nor how courageous the people were for him; and so he recalled his soldiers
from the place, and despairing of any expectation of taking it, without having received
any disgrace, he retired from the city, without any reason in the world (emphasis mine,
K.M.).52
Cestius will send messengers to Here hoping that the emperor will not be enraged
because of Cestius’ withdrawal.33 Hero removes Cestius from command, however, and
sends Vespasian to Judea to take over the armies; but when Vespasian becomes emperor, he
returns to Rome, and Titus, Vespasian’s son, becomes the military leader.”
When Cestius retreated and the days of the siege were “shortened,” all entrapped
Christians, heeding the predictive warning of the Master, must have fled the city; for none
died there! Such a precise prophecy suits well the Master of the universe, who sees the end
from the beginning. However, any false Messiah or false concept of Messiah that would
claim to have been the savior of the Christians in Jerusalem will be avoided by a forewarned
disciple.
Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For
there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and
wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold,
I have told you before. Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the
desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
The very essence of prophecy is that the true prophet can easily be separated from the
false (Deut. 18:22). If a man utters a prophecy, and the prophecy not come to pass, that one
is not speaking for God. Jesus said, then some would try to find Him in the event or to say
He had actually come. The term then is a prophet’s dilemma, for he speaks ahead of the time
of the events.
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Anyone trying to locate Jesus’ second coming in the events of AD. 70 and the
destruction of Jerusalem is a false teacher or Jesus is. Which view shall the honest Bible
student accept? Shall Jesus be accused of false prophecy? Ho! Jesus was not literally in the
event, in fact or in secret (as the Jehovah’s witnesses have insisted since 1914).
Until Jesus’ disciples saw the Roman legions around Jerusalem, they were not to be
misled by anyone. And, after the armies came and the disciples fled, they were not to believe
anyone who claimed that the Christ actually came in AD. 70! The second coming of the
Christ has a different scenario from the AD. 70 events surrounding Jerusalem.
For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall
also the coming of the Son of man be (24:27).
The coming (parousia, commented on above) or second coming does not concern Roman
armies nor give anyone time to flee. For,
ln a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound,
and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed (I Cor. 15:52).
Why, then, is there the destruction of Jerusalem? And, is there a warning for all in such an
event?
“For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together” (24:28).
Because of the term eagles in the English version and because Roman legions had eagles on
their shields, some confusion has arisen in comparing Matthew’s and Luke's accounts. At
Luke 17:57 the term eagles appears, and some have decided that such a usage must mean that
all of Luke 17 and 21 refers to the destruction of Jerusalem and, therefore, all of Matthew 24
is about the city.
There is some Old Testament help in clearing up such confusion. Job wrote: “Her
young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she” (Job 59:50). Moses also
wrote, “And thy carcase shall be meat unto all fowls of the air" (Deut. 28:26) in reference to
what would happen to Israel if she failed to obey God. Both Job and Moses allude to those
who fail God as carcases ready to be eaten.
Also, the word translated eagles in the King James Version is from aetoi, and Bruce
adds that "doubtless the carrion vultures are meant.”35 In other words, the phrase used by
Jesus was not referencing Roman armies but was proverbially indicating that, whenever there
was need for a judgment, God was ready. The disobedient Jews appeared to God as a rotting
carcase!
Every person who decides to rebel against God should remember Jerusalem. That
destroyed city is a sure sign of just who it is that is in charge.
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the
moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of
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the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in
heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of
man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory (24:29-30).
The destruction of Jerusalem is pictured, apocalyptically (i.e., in “code" language) by

Jesus to stress the ethical nature of the event (as noted above). One should be careful not to
read any ideas into the text here that have not been clearly stated in the literal passages.
To destroy God’s own city is a time for dark suns and moons and a shaking of all
governments (stars and heavens). But, the destruction of Jerusalem is the sure sign that the
Son of man is now in heaven; that He is a true prophet (the ancient temple no longer exists),
and that every nation should remember that destruction and see in it their own destruction
when the Son of man comes again unless those nations repent! To that latter end, the Lord
will continue to allow the gospel to be preached after AD. 70 until His second coming.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather
together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other (24:31).
The angels (gospel messengers) will continue to preach subsequent to Jerusalem’s

fall. Taylor adds that “With that fall would be removed one of the greatest hindrances of the
gospel faced from Acts 2 till AD. 70 persecuting Judaism.
The sound of the trumpet is the gospel call (II Thess. 2:14). The elect are Christians;
the disciples had asked him about “these things.” Now they knew and should take with them
a very important lesson.
Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth
leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these
things, know that it is near, even at the doors. Verily I say unto you, This generation
shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away, but
my words shall not pass away (24:32-55).
Christ’s disciples could be as sure about His figurative coming in judgment on

Jerusalem as they were about the nearness of summer when the fig trees budded. 2These
things" must happen in that generation, and those disciples, for the most part, would see them
happen (James, Acts 12, and Judas would not).
These things is tauta panta (i.e., all these things) in Matthew 25:26.37 Tauta is used
in the Matthew twenty-four passages also, forming a link to that generation and the
fulfillment of “all these things” (24:2, 5, 8, 55 and 54). “These things” is equivalent to “those
days” (Matt. 24:29). Therefore, all the prophecy contained in Matthew 24: 1-55 must refer to
Jerusalem and its destruction in AD. 70.
However, the Christ used another phrase to begin a discussion of His second coming
that clearly divides the advent of Jesus. At Matthew 24:56 one reads: “peri de tees eemeras
ekeinees....”38 In English, the literal meaning is, but (de) concerning (peri) the day (tees
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eemeras) the that one (tees ekeinees)?’9 Clearly, “these things” and ”those days” are in
contrast to ”the day the that one” about which no man knows and about which there is no
sign. The latter day is the second coming, which day is for another study.
Conclusion
Matthew 2421-55 is related to the destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus was never, literally,
present at that event but was present in a judgmental sense. The disciples thought of one
event, but Jesus taught them about two. His warnings saved their lives in AD. 70, for when
the Roman legions withdrew from the city, every Christian escaped.
The Lord is a true prophet, and the fact that Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D.‘ 70
proves that He is in heaven. May every soul obey the true Lord and Master of this universe.
21, 1999. Keith Mosher, Sr.: Matthew 24: Judgement upon Jerusalem. Pages 259-280.
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Error
ERROR
212
A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM OF “THIS GENERATION” IN MATTHEW
24:34
(Bob DeWaay)
“Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.”
(Matthew 24:34)
Matthew 24:34 is a difficult passage for Bible interpreters. The problem is that Jesus
appears to be predicting that the generation of Jews alive when He made the prophetic
predictions found in Matthew 24 would also be alive to witness the fulfillment of His
prophecies. This difficulty has sparked numerous proposed solutions.1 The solutions fall into
camps based on whether or not the interpreter believes in a literal, future fulfillment of the
prophecies in Daniel, Matthew 24, and Revelation. Those who believe in future prophecy
often consider “generation” either to mean the Jews in general, or a generation that will arise
later in history and witness these things. Those who believe that everything was fulfilled by
70 AD (these are called preterists) take “this generation” to mean “those alive when Jesus
gave His prophecies.”
Gary Demar writes, “That is, the generation that was in existence when Jesus
addressed His disciples would not pass away until all the events that preceded verse 34 came
to pass.”2 This would mean that the gathering of the elect would have to have already
happened: “And He will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather
together His elect from the four winds, from one end of the sky to the other” (Matthew 24:31).
Another preterist writes: “All Scripture referring to “end-time” events must relate to the
Jewish war with Rome during the period A.D. 66-70 which culminated in the destruction of
the temple and the end of animal sacrifices. The promised second coming, resurrection and
judgment must have occurred during that period. All ‘difficult’ prophetic passages must be
interpreted based on this premise.”
Some who believe in a future literal fulfillment of Bible prophecy have claimed that
“this generation” means: “those who will be alive when Israel is regathered as a nation.”
Preterists have attacked that interpretation as being contrived. They rightly point out that at
least some of what was predicted in Matthew 24 did happen within the lifetime of the
disciples (particularly the destruction of the temple). Why would “this generation” refer to a
future generation that will not have witnessed that event? Other suggestions by futurists have
not done justice to the text and grammar of Matthew 24:34.
In this article I will propose and defend my solution to this difficulty. My thesis is
that “this generation” as used in Matthew 24:34 is not a chronological modifier,4 but a
qualitative statement5 about the spiritual condition of the Jewish leaders and those who
follow them. I will defend this thesis by showing the usage of this phrase in Matthew, Mark,
Luke, Acts, Hebrews, and the Psalms and by showing how the Jewish concept of corporate
solidarity6 applies to its usage. The reason this is important is that preterists have been
confusing many sincere Christians and discrediting the study of Bible prophecy by using
Matthew 24:34 as a key proof text. Those of us who believe in literal Bible prophecy need to
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give a cogent interpretation of the text that does justice to the historical and grammatical
issues.
This Evil Generation
Matthew 12:41-45 contains the most concentrated usage of the phrase “this
generation” in the Bible. Jesus is condemning those (particularly the Pharisees who had just
claimed that Jesus had a demon -- verse 24) who rejected the evidence that Jesus was the
Messiah. Here is what Jesus said:
The men of Nineveh shall stand up with this generation at the judgment, and shall
condemn it because they repented at the preaching of Jonah; and behold, something
greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South shall rise up with this generation
at the judgment and shall condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to
hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.
Now when the unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through waterless places,
seeking rest, and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which
I came’; and when it comes, it finds it unoccupied, swept, and put in order. Then it
goes, and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go
in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is
the way it will also be with this evil generation. (Matthew 12:41-45)
“This generation” is mentioned three times; referring to the leaders who had refused
the evidence that Jesus was the “Son of David” (Messiah) and accused Him of casting out
demons by the power of Satan. Jesus warned that these rebellious Jewish leaders will be
worse off on the Day of Judgment than pagans who had responded to less evidence than the
Pharisees had witnessed. The further implication is that their situation will be worse in the
future because Jesus had come and cast out demons, but since they refuse to come to faith in
Him, they shall be overrun with worse demons in the future. The demons become a metaphor
for the spiritual condition of the Jewish leadership and the “house” they are managing.
Clearly these things do apply to the Jewish leaders who are contemporaries with
Jesus. However, do they apply to all Jews then living? The answer is “no.” Those who come
to faith in Christ are not the ones who face future judgment and being overrun with worse
demons. Only those who rejected Him are in mind (and the “house” they are managing).
The chronological factor is important in that those who were alive saw the greatest
evidence that Jesus was who He claimed and thus face stricter judgment at the end of the age.
However, others then alive are not included in the condemnation of “this evil generation.”
The leaders refuse to come to faith in the face of Jesus’ power over nature, sickness, and
death as shown in the previous chapters of Matthew. This soon leads to the demand for yet
more signs. Here is Jesus’ answer to that request: “An evil and adulterous generation seeks
after a sign; and a sign will not be given it, except the sign of Jonah.” (Matthew 16:4a). Later
in the New Testament Paul wrote “For indeed Jews ask for signs, and Greeks search for
wisdom; but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles
foolishness” (1Corinthians 1:22, 23. The one sign that was offered was still the watershed
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issue when Paul wrote. One must either come to faith based on the crucified and resurrected
Christ or continue in spiritual blindness and face judgment.
I believe that “this generation” has to do with the refusal of Jewish leaders and those
who follow them to believe the clear evidence that Jesus is the Messiah. This is epitomized
by those who were contemporary eyewitnesses of Jesus and His mighty works, but not
limited to them. As I will show later, those who rejected Christ are standing as one with the
generation who witnessed all the miracles at the time of Moses and yet died in unbelief. They
are one with their fathers and all who follow who refuse to believe the gospel. In this sense,
“this generation” includes sinful Jewish leadership at the time of Christ, but is not thereby
exhausted of meaning. All future generations must face up to the evidence and either join
their fathers in rejecting the evidence, or join with the remnant that believes and is saved.
Though the same issues confront the Gentiles until the end of the age, the term “this
generation” is used to refer to the Jewish leaders and their followers.
The incident in Luke where Jesus casts out demons and laments an “unbelieving and
perverted generation” provides another example of “generation” used in a pejorative sense.
Here is the story of the incident:
“And I begged Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not.” And Jesus answered
and said, “O unbelieving and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you, and
put up with you? Bring your son here.” And while he was still approaching, the demon
dashed him to the ground, and threw him into a convulsion. But Jesus rebuked the
unclean spirit, and healed the boy, and gave him back to his father. And they were all
amazed at the greatness of God. But while everyone was marveling at all that He was
doing, He said to His disciples, “Let these words sink into your ears; for the Son of
Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men.” But they did not understand this
statement, and it was concealed from them so that they might not perceive it; and they
were afraid to ask Him about this statement. (Luke 9:40-45)
The failure to be able to cast out the demon caused Jesus to link His own disciples
with the “unbelieving and perverted generation.” The question is, “why”? The answer is
found in the context. Notice that Jesus went from lamenting the perverted generation to a
solemn statement about His arrest and crucifixion which the disciples failed to understand.
Their lack of understanding is underscored by the next verse (Luke 9:46) where they are
arguing about who will be the greatest. If they really understood the true mission of Messiah
(to be arrested and crucified) they would not be clamoring for greatness. The “unbelieving .
. . generation” is one that does not perceive the nature of Jesus’ person and mission.
The passage shows (much like Matthew 12) that people do not receive or understand
the true purpose, mission, and nature of Messiah they will be left powerless in the face of
demons. As long as the disciples did not understand the cross, they were still in the same
spiritual condition as the “perverted generation” (the Jewish leaders and their followers who
reject Christ). The disciples wanted greatness (just like the leaders who had rejected Christ)
and they were just as powerless to bring true freedom from satanic oppression. This freedom
comes only through the cross. The disciples’ “understanding” is not opened up until the 24th
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chapter in Luke’s narrative.7 Though “this generation” refers to those who reject Christ, as
long as the disciples lack understanding of the cross and seek greatness, they too are sharing
in spirit the nature of “an evil and perverted generation.” This problem is rectified later when
their eyes are opened to the true mission and nature of Messiah.
The next usage of “this generation” in Matthew (after the one in Matthew 12
discussed earlier) shows that the term is not referring to all Jews, or all Jews alive at the time,
but to those who reject Messiah. The passage also shows the idea of corporate solidarity in
Jewish thinking that transcends chronological considerations:
Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of
them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues,
and persecute from city to city, that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous
blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the
son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say
to you, all these things shall come upon this generation. (Matthew 23:34-36)
In Matthew 23 Jesus rebukes the Jewish leadership pronouncing woe after woe upon
them (showing Jesus’ solidarity with the true prophets of the Old Testament). Notice how
Jesus’ statement transcends chronological limitations. Not only does He refer to future
messengers He would send and whom they would reject, but He includes the Jewish
leadership in the guilt of all those who before them persecuted God’s chosen ones.8 The issue
was not chronological (though Jesus’ contemporary “judges” epitomize the wickedness of
rejecting God’s prophets) but moral and spiritual. All those who reject God’s ordained
messengers, past, present, and future are included in the condemnation of “this generation.”
It is becoming clear that “this generation” is a phrase that Jesus used qualitatively rather than
chronologically.9 At issue was not when certain Jewish people were born and how many
years they might live, but their response to divine revelation: including that which comes
through the Old Testament prophets, the person of Jesus, and future preachers of the Gospel.
The term “this generation,” is also used qualitatively in the other synoptic gospels.
An important one is found in Mark 8:38: “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in
this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He
comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” The adjectives “adulterous and sinful”
show that Jesus is speaking of the general rebellion against Him and His message as
epitomized by Israel’s leadership. Is there any reason to limit the warning about being
ashamed of Christ and His teaching to only those alive before 70 AD? Luke 9:26 issues the
same warning but makes it universal. Luke 11:29-32 uses “this generation” in a rebuke to
those who demanded signs from Jesus.
When Jesus did intend a chronological limitation, He used different terminology.

Consider the next verse after Mark8:38 cited above: “And He was saying to them, ‘Truly I
say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they
see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.’” (Mark 9:1 also Matthew 16:28) The
phrase “this . . . generation” denotes the moral and spiritual qualities of those included, the
phrase “some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until” denotes a time
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limitation. Keep this in mind when we return to Matthew 24:34 to understand why Jesus uses
“this generation” in that passage.
At Pentecost Peter used similar terminology when preaching to his Jewish audience:
“And with many other words he solemnly testified and kept on exhorting them, saying, ‘Be
saved from this perverse generation!’” (Acts 2:40). Could we possibly construe his words to
mean, “Be saved from all Jewish people now alive”? No. The perverse generation was the
Jewish leadership who had rejected their own Messiah. There was no concern about how
many years they could be expected to live in a normal lifetime. At issue was their beliefs and
behavior. Again we have an example of “this generation” being a qualitative statement that
connoted spiritual wickedness.
In the case of Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 we find out how people can be saved from
“this . . . generation”? by repenting and believing the gospel. Later in Acts Saul of Tarsus
was listening to Stephen’s preaching and indictment of the Jewish leadership by linking them
with Jewish rebellion from previous generations:
You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always
resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did. Which one of the
prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who had previously
announced the coming of the Righteous One, whose betrayers and murderers you
have now become; (Acts 7:51, 52)
They subsequently killed Stephen for these words as Paul held their coats. At that
point in his life Paul was still a part of the perverse generation that some of Peter’s hearers
were saved out of. In Acts 9 Paul was converted from being a leader of the “perverse
generation” who kills God’s spokespersons, to one who embraced Messiah. He joined other
Jewish believers in Messiah in the early Jewish church, many who had been saved under
Peter’s preaching. By God’s grace they escaped from the wicked generation. Paul had been
one of the leaders who was indicted by Stephen’s sermon. “This generation” is something
one can be saved from!
The Old Testament and Corporate Solidarity
Most Americans prize individuality. We have a hard time understanding the thinking
of the Jewish people who wrote the Bible. However, we need to comprehend the idea of
corporate solidarity to make sense of many Biblical passages. For example, the author of
Hebrews argued that Levi paid tithes in Abraham when Abraham paid ties to Melchizedek
(Hebrews 7:4-10). Levi was Abraham’s descendent so according to Jewish thinking, if
Abraham was lesser than Melchizedek, then Levi was too.
Often the idea of corporate solidarity is applied to guilt. Paul uses this reasoning in
Romans 5. All “sinned” in Adam: “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the
world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned.” (Romans
5:12). The word translated “sinned” is in the aorist tense in the Greek, meaning a point in
time event. This event is Adam’s sin.10 The Jewish idea of corporate solidarity sees all of
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Adam’s posterity as sinning “in Adam.” The converse of this is found later in Romans 5
where all of those who are “in Christ” are made alive by His one act of righteousness.11 The
issue is which group does one belong to, those who are only in Adam, or those of Adam’s
race who are now in Christ by faith in His finished work. Corporate solidarity is true in each
case.
Another way the Jewish idea of corporate solidarity is expressed is through Hebraic
idioms. A common one is where someone is called “a son of” with the meaning,
“characterized by.” This finds numerous expressions throughout the Bible. Consider this
example: “Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the
desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest”
(Ephesians 2:3). Those who are “children of wrath” are not literally “conceived by” wrath
but are characterized as being under God’s wrath against sin. Jesus uses this terminology in
Matthew 23 in the same context as the “this generation” statement discussed earlier:
“Consequently you bear witness against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered
the prophets” (Matthew 23:31). By killing God’s messengers, they make themselves “sons
of” those who did likewise in the Old Testament, though the Pharisees considered themselves
“sons of the prophets” not the “sons of” their murderers. The idea is this: they are in corporate
solidarity not because of family tree, but because of belief and behavior. Likewise Christians
are called “children of light” as opposed to being “of darkness”: “For you are all sons of light
and sons of day. We are not of night nor of darkness” (1Thessalonians 5:5).
The idea expressed in these and many other passages is that those who follow the
example of certain people in previous generations are participating in their guilt. How one
believes and acts makes him a “son of” one who previously did the same. For example, in
John 8 Jesus called those who considered themselves “sons of Abraham,” actually “sons of
the devil” (John 8:33-59). Here is a verse that shows the Jewish understanding of corporate
solidarity in guilt or righteousness: “They answered and said to Him, ‘Abraham is our father.’
Jesus said to them, ‘If you are Abraham’s children, do the deeds of Abraham’” (John 8:39).
The “sons of Abraham” are those who “hear God’s word” and listen to the truth that Jesus
proclaims. The “sons of the devil” believe “the lie” (John 8:44). This whole section illustrates
the difference between sonship based on genetics and sonship based on faith; contrasting the
literal use of “son” and the idiomatic use where it means “characterized by.” The notion of
corporate solidarity as used in passages like this shows that generational guilt is passed along
not by family tree (though being Jewish is still an important issue as shown in Romans 9-11)
but by belief and practice.
The Old Testament also uses such terminology. For example:
“Because of the devastation of the afflicted, because of the groaning of the needy,
now I will arise,” says the Lord; “I will set him in the safety for which he longs.” The
words of the Lord are pure words; As silver tried in a furnace on the earth, refined
seven times. Thou, O Lord, wilt keep them; Thou wilt preserve him from this
generation forever. The wicked strut about on every side, when vileness is exalted
among the sons of men. (Psalm 12:5-8)
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Notice that the phrase “this generation” is not used to mean “all those now alive” nor
“a forty year period of time.” It means “the wicked who afflict the righteous.” The issue is
moral, spiritual and transgenerational, as shown by the phrase “forever.”
We have seen that many times the phrase “this generation” refers to people who are
refusing to listen to God. We have also seen that the Jewish concept of corporate solidarity
often links people to one another across various generations based on following the same
pattern as important people in Jewish history. One can be a “son of Abraham” by listening
to God or a “son of those who kill the prophets” by rejecting God’s authoritative
spokespersons, regardless of one’s literal family tree.
“Filling up the Measure” of Guilt
Before applying what we have learned to Matthew 24:34, let us consider passage that
show a Jewish transgenerational understanding of guilt and “sonship.” Paul had preached
Christ in Thessalonica and was fiercely opposed by the Jews (Acts 17:1-9). When he later
wrote to the church in Thessalonica he wrote this:
For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in
Judea, for you also endured the same sufferings at the hands of your own countrymen, even
as they did from the Jews, who both killed the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and drove us out.
They are not pleasing to God, but hostile to all men, hindering us from speaking to the
Gentiles that they might be saved; with the result that they always fill up the measure of their
sins. But wrath has come upon them to the utmost. (1Thessalonians 2:14-16)
Some have considered this passage evidence of anti-Semitism in the New Testament.
Though it is surely harsh, one ought to consider what Paul wrote in Romans 9-11 before
charging Jewish Paul with anti-Semitism. Paul was not indicting Jews as merely being
Jewish, but was only speaking of those who rejected God’s Jewish Messiah and sought to
drive away the Jewish Paul who was giving them evidence from the Jewish scriptures that
Jesus was the Messiah (Acts 17:2, 3). Their hostility was to the gospel. By driving Paul out
of town they tried to keep Gentiles from hearing the gospel and being saved. Paul is referring
to the events found in Acts 17.
The key word 1Thessalonians 2:16 is the one translated “fill up the measure” which
often means “to supply what was lacking.” It is only used six times in the New Testament.
One of its usages is in this passage where it is translated “fulfilled”: “And in their case the
prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says, ‘You will keep on hearing, but will not
understand; And you will keep on seeing, but will not perceive’” (Matthew 13:14). The
“filling up” here is seen in the fact that the people to whom Jesus preached had the same
response as those to whom Isaiah preached. In both cases they do not listen and are subjected
to the judgment of hardening. In Isaiah’s day we have the idea of the “already and not yet.”
Though the immediate context (God telling Isaiah about his calling and the response he
would get to his ministry) had to do with people alive in Isaiah’s day, the passage also has a
later fulfillment in history, in this case the preaching of Jesus. Those in Jesus’ day “fill up”
the sins of those in Isaiah’s day by doing likewise.
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Interestingly the same Isaiah passage is cited in Acts 28 in the context of Paul preaching to
Jews in Rome. This passage demonstrates clearly the idea of corporate solidarity we have
been discussing:
And when they had set a day for him, they came to him at his lodging in large
numbers; and he was explaining to them by solemnly testifying about the kingdom of
God, and trying to persuade them concerning Jesus, from both the Law of Moses and
from the Prophets, from morning until evening. And some were being persuaded by
the things spoken, but others would not believe. And when they did not agree with
one another, they began leaving after Paul had spoken one parting word, “The Holy
Spirit rightly spoke through Isaiah the prophet to your fathers, saying, ‘Go to this
people and say, You will keep on hearing, but will not understand; And you will keep
on seeing, but will not perceive; For the heart of this people has become dull, And
with their ears they scarcely hear, And they have closed their eyes; Lest they should
see with their eyes, And hear with their ears, And understand with their heart and
return, And I should heal them.’ Let it be known to you therefore, that this salvation
of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will also listen.” (Acts 28:23-28)
The same Isaiah passage cited by Jesus to show the guilt of those who would not
listen to Him is used by Paul later. The passage continues to find fulfillment in those who are
like their “fathers” to whom Isaiah preached. Here also it was not all the Jews that are indicted
(some believed) but those who acted like their “fathers” in Isaiah’s day and refused to listen
to God’s word.
So, in Isaiah’s day we have the “already” (those who refuse to listen and are hardened)
and the “not yet” (future Jews who would not listen to Messiah). In Paul’s day we have the
“already” (those who were the “fathers” of the Jews who did not listen) and the “yet still”
those alive in Paul’s day who refused to listen and were hardened. In the 1Thessalonians 2
passage Paul says that the Jews “fill up the measure of their sins.” He means that they
continue in the pattern of those who went before and rejected God’s message and add to the
corporate pool of sin of which they are a part.
Paul’s teaching in 1Thessalonians 2 echoes the words of Jesus in Matthew 23:
Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the
prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, ‘If we had been living
in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the
blood of the prophets.’ Consequently, you bear witness against yourselves, that you
are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up then the measure of the guilt of
your fathers. (Matthew 23:29-32)
They would soon “fill up the measure of the guilt” by turning Christ over to be
crucified. Thus, they make their “fathers” to be the ones who killed the prophets and not the
prophets themselves. In this sense one has moral culpability as to who one’s “father” is. In
either case they are still Jewish.
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This Generation in Matthew 24:34
“Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take
place.” (Matthew 24:34)
As I mentioned earlier, the assumption that “generation” is a time qualifier is

problematic. “All these things” did not take place during the lifetime of anyone then alive
[unless one believes the preterists who claim that the Son of Man came in the clouds of glory
and gathered His elect in 70AD]. So either “all these things” is not literal but actually means
“some of these things” or some other solution must be found. Many have been suggested.
These include the idea that it means “race” (i.e. the Jews will still be alive, or others have
said that the “race” of the church will still be here) and even some have said that the
generation did not begin until 1948.
Those who solve the problem by saying it is a chronological statement but only about
a limited part of what Jesus predicted in Matthew 24 point out that “this generation”
elsewhere in Matthew is always about those who were living when Jesus spoke to them. But
they fail to consider the fact that even though addressed to people then living, the phrase “this
generation” had a qualitative connotation in each of the passages. As I have shown, in the
nearest context to Matthew 24 (Matthew 23) Jesus linked “this generation” to those who had
gone before and those who would come later. I also showed that in Acts, “this generation”
was something that one could be saved from by repenting. I also showed that when Jesus did
want to qualify a statement by limiting it to the lifetime of His hearers He said, “some of you
standing here will not taste death until. . .,” a phrase that could have been used in Matthew
24:34 without ambiguity if it was His intent to mean the same thing (Matthew used the phrase
in 16:28). So I conclude that though “this generation” did include some of those who were
living when Jesus spoke to them (just those who rejected His message), it also includes those
in the future who would make these rejecters of Messiah their “fathers” by doing likewise.
Let us apply my thesis (that “this generation” is a qualitative modifier that applies to Jewish
resistance to God’s message and messengers and that it is transgenerational) to Matthew
24:34. There is a time modifier in Matthew 24:34 and it is this phrase: “shall not pass away
until . . .” This means that the Jewish leadership and their followers will continue to reject
the gospel of Jesus as the crucified Messiah until the end, when Jesus returns. It is not a
prediction that Jews will not be saved; but that the bulk of them as epitomized by their leaders
will continue in the same manner as their “fathers” did, from the time of Moses, the time of
Jesus, the time of Paul, throughout the “times of the Gentiles” (Luke 21:24) until finally
Christ returns and rectifies the situation.
This fits with a common theme in Matthew -- that Jesus never predicted that the
masses would become His followers or that national Israel would accept Him as their King
during His first advent and the indefinite period that would follow. This theme is shown in
the teaching of the “narrow gate”; the parable of the soils, the other parables of Matthew 13,
and many other parables that teach a Messiah rejected by those who rightfully belong to Him
(such as the parable of the landowner -- Matthew 21:33-41).
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To conclude that Matthew 24:34 predicts continued Jewish rejection of the gospel
until the very end fits Matthew’s theme, fits the word usage of “this generation” as being
qualitative elsewhere in Matthew, and fits historical reality. One Jewish objection to the
Gospel at the time of Matthew’s writing was this, “if this Jesus is the Jewish Messiah, then
why was He rejected and crucified and why are not more Jews following Him?” Matthew
uses a considerable amount of his Gospel answering this objection by showing that Jesus
predicted His own crucifixion and also predicted that He would be rejected and most people
would not become His followers. Therefore, things are right on track as Jesus predicted them.
I believe that the interpretation of Matthew 24:34 that I am proposing fits Matthew’s theme
and purpose as revealed elsewhere in Matthew. That in Matthew’s day and in the indefinite
future most Jews would reject Messiah is not proof of the invalidity of the gospel claims, but
proof that Jesus really was a true prophet; in fact He was the Prophet that God promised
through Moses (Deuteronomy 18:15).
Avoiding Anti-Semitism
Many passages I have cited in this article are harsh rebukes to Jewish hardness to the
Gospel. Because of such passages, some have accused the New Testament writers of being
anti-Semitic. I believe this charge is invalid for several reasons. I will state these reasons and
then discuss Paul’s attitude as seen in Romans 9-11. Paul serves as model for Christians to
follow in order to have a right attitude toward God’s special people, the Jews.
What the critics often fail to realize is that passages such as Matthew 23,
1Thessalonians 2; John 8, and others were written by Jews. These are not the compositions
of a Gentile church in 350 AD reflecting the anti-Semitism of that later day, but were written
in the 1st century by Jews. Even the Christian Jews of Paul’s day were not in a power position
vis-à-vis non-Christian Jews. Paul was under arrest by the Romans when he made his
statements in Acts 28. The Christians who wrote the New Testament were under Jewish and
Gentile persecution and were a minority. So the documents they left us do not reflect hatred
of the Jews by powerful Gentiles, but a compassion for other Jews by Jews who firmly
believed that Jesus was indeed the promised Son of David and that the salvation of their
Jewish loved ones depended on them coming to faith in Christ. Thus, love and not hatred was
the motivation for these strong statements.
Jesus’ harsh rebukes in Matthew 23 were against Jewish leaders who were abusing
those they were supposed to help. Their victims were Jewish victims. So when Jesus
condemned the Pharisees as “making children of hell,” he was standing in the place of Jewish
prophets from the Old Testament who stood up to corrupt Jewish leadership. Do people
accuse Jeremiah of being anti-Semitic? Jesus and His apostles claimed to be the “sons of”
such prophets. What is at issue is whether there is sufficient evidence to believe Jesus was
who He claimed to be. If so, He was no anti-Semite, but the Jewish Messiah who was and is
filled with compassion for the lost sheep of the tribes of Israel.
Paul reflected the compassion of Christ for Jewish people; so much so that he was
filled with grief and sorrow over their spiritual condition and could even wish himself
accursed if it would mean bringing them to salvation (see Roman 9:1-5). Paul prayed for the
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salvation of Jews (Romans 10:1). Paul warned Gentile Christians not to boast against the
Jews (Romans 11:18). Paul reminded us that we are grafted into a Jewish olive tree (Romans
11:17-24). Even the “times of the Gentiles” which persist until the end of the age, have a
saving purpose for Jews -- to provoke them to jealously and thus motivate some to come to
Messiah (Romans 11:14).
This brings us to the passage in the Bible that tells us the nature of the time clock that
God has set for the end of “this generation.” Since “this generation” constitutes Jewish
leadership and their followers who reject the message of the gospel, it will come to an end
when Christ comes again in judgment, saves a remnant of the Jews, gathers together all of
His elect (Matthew 24:29-31), and banishes the rebels to punishment before setting up his
Messianic kingdom. Here is how Paul describes it:
For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in
your own estimation, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness
of the Gentiles has come in; and thus all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, “The
Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.” (Romans
11:25, 26)
The removal of ungodliness from Jacob will be when “this generation” passes away.
After that only the godly will remain and the phrase “this wicked generation” will no longer
apply.13 Notice also that the hardening that characterizes “this generation” as the term is
used in the Bible is two things: 1) partial 2) temporary. Just as was the case in the gospels
and Acts, there are those who are saved out of the hardened majority.
Conclusion
We have shown that “this generation” is used in a pejorative sense in the New
Testament and is therefore qualitative and not setting a time limit. We have also seen the
transgenerational idea of guilt in Jewish thinking as it applies to the phrase. This guilt is being
“filled up” by those who follow in the footsteps of their “fathers” who did likewise. Matthew
includes a statement at the trial of Jesus to emphasize this: “And all the people answered and
said, ‘His blood be on us and on our children!’” (Matthew 27:25). Clearly the issue of “this
generation” rejecting Messiah is seen as a continual problem down through subsequent
generations. By taking “this generation” in Matthew 24:34 in the sense of Jewish hardness
to the gospel we are able to take the statement completely literally and avoid the problems of
other proposed interpretations. This also fits with what Paul taught in Romans 11. Let us join
with Paul in praying for the salvation of the Jewish people. That many are hardened should
never deter us from praying for them and preaching the gospel to them.
Issue 77 - July/August 2003
Source: http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue77.htm
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TELL US, WHEN WILL THESE THINGS BE?
(JW.org)
HOW WOULD YOU ANSWER?
1. Like the apostles, what are we eager to find out?
JESUS’ ministry on earth was coming to an end, and his disciples were eager to find
out what the future held for them. So just a few days before his death, four of his apostles
asked him: “When will these things be, and what will be the sign of your presence and of the
conclusion of the system of things?” (Matt. 24:3; Mark 13:3) Jesus answered by means of an
extensive prophecy, recorded in Matthew chapters 24 and 25. In that prophecy, Jesus foretold
many noteworthy events. His words have profound meaning for us because we too are keenly
interested in knowing what the future holds.
2. (a) Through the years, of what did we seek to get a clearer understanding? (b) Which three
questions will we consider?
Through the years, Jehovah’s servants have prayerfully studied Jesus’ prophecy about
the last days. They have sought to get a clearer understanding of the timing of the fulfillment
of Jesus’ words. To illustrate how our understanding has been clarified, let us consider three
“when” questions. When does the “great tribulation” begin? When does Jesus judge “the
sheep” and “the goats”? When does Jesus ‘arrive,’ or come? - Matt. 24:21; 25:31-33.
WHEN DOES THE GREAT TRIBULATION BEGIN?
3. In the past, what was our understanding of the timing of the great tribulation?
For a number of years, we thought that the great tribulation began in 1914 with World
War I and that “those days were cut short” by Jehovah in 1918 when the war ended so that
the remnant would have the opportunity to preach the good news to all nations. (Matt. 24:21,
22) After the completion of that preaching work, Satan’s empire would be destroyed. Thus,
the great tribulation was thought to have three phases: There would be a beginning (1914-
1918), the tribulation would be interrupted (from 1918 onward), and it would conclude at
Armageddon.
4. What insight led to a clearer understanding of Jesus’ prophecy about the last days?
Upon further examination of Jesus’ prophecy, however, we perceived that a part of

Jesus’ prophecy about the last days has two fulfillments. (Matt. 24:4-22) There was an initial
fulfillment in Judea in the first century C.E., and there would be a worldwide fulfillment in
our day. That insight led to several clarifications.
5. (a) What difficult period began in 1914? (b) That period of distress corresponds to what
time period in the first century C.E.?
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We also discerned that the first part of the great tribulation did not begin in 1914.
Why not? Because Bible prophecy reveals that the great tribulation will start, not with a war
among nations, but with an attack on false religion. Thus, the events that began in 1914 were,
not the beginning of the great tribulation, but the “beginning of pangs of distress.” (Matt.
24:8) These “pangs of distress” correspond to what took place in Jerusalem and Judea from
33 C.E. to 66 C.E.
6. What will signal the beginning of the great tribulation?
What will signal the start of the great tribulation? Jesus foretold: “When you catch
sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet,
standing in a holy place, (let the reader use discernment,) then let those in Judea begin fleeing
to the mountains.” (Matt. 24:15, 16) In the first fulfillment, the “standing in a holy place”
occurred in 66 C.E. when the Roman army (“the disgusting thing”) attacked Jerusalem and
its temple (a place holy in the eyes of the Jews). In the larger fulfillment, the “standing” will
occur when the United Nations (the modern-day “disgusting thing”) attacks Christendom
(which is holy in the eyes of nominal Christians) and the rest of Babylon the Great. The same
attack is described at Revelation 17:16-18. That event will be the beginning of the great
tribulation.
7. (a) How was ‘flesh saved’ in the first century? (b) What can we expect will happen in the
future?
Jesus also foretold: “Those days will be cut short.” In the initial fulfillment, this
happened in 66 C.E. when the Roman army “cut short” its attack. Then, anointed Christians
in Jerusalem and Judea fled, allowing for their ‘flesh, or life, to be saved.’ (Read Matthew
24:22; Mal. 3:17) So, what can we expect will happen during the coming great tribulation?
Jehovah will “cut short” the attack of the United Nations on false religion, not allowing true
religion to be destroyed with the false. This will ensure that God’s people will be saved.
8. (a) What events will take place after the initial part of the great tribulation has passed? (b)
At what point, apparently, will the last member of the 144,000 receive his heavenly reward?
What happens after the initial part of the great tribulation has passed? Jesus’ words
indicate that there will be a period of time that will last until the start of Armageddon. What
events will occur during that interval? The answer is recorded at Ezekiel 38:14-16 and
Matthew 24:29-31. (Read.)* After that, we will witness Armageddon, the climax of the great
tribulation, which parallels Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 C.E. (Mal. 4:1) With the battle of
Armageddon as its climax, that coming great tribulation will be unique—an event “such as
has not occurred since the world’s beginning.” (Matt. 24:21) When it has passed, Christ’s
Millennial Rule will begin.
9. What effect does Jesus’ prophecy about the great tribulation have on Jehovah’s people?
This prophecy about the great tribulation strengthens us. Why? Because it assures us
that no matter what hardships we may face, Jehovah’s people, as a group, will come out of
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the great tribulation. (Rev. 7:9, 14) Above all, we rejoice because at Armageddon, Jehovah
will vindicate his sovereignty and he will sanctify his holy name.—Ps. 83:18; Ezek. 38:23.
WHEN DOES JESUS JUDGE THE SHEEP AND THE GOATS?
10. In the past, what was our understanding of the timing of the judgment of the sheep and
the goats?
Consider now the timing of another part of Jesus’ prophecy—the parable of the
judgment of the sheep and the goats. (Matt. 25:31-46) Previously, we thought that the judging
of people as sheep or goats would take place during the entire period of the last days from
1914 onward.
We concluded that those who rejected the Kingdom message and who died before the start
of the great tribulation would die as goats—without the hope of a resurrection.
11. Why could the judgment of people as sheep or goats not have started in 1914?
In the mid-1990’s, The Watchtower reexamined Matthew 25:31, which states: “When the
Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his
glorious throne.” It was noted that Jesus became King of God’s Kingdom in 1914, but he did
not “sit down on his glorious throne” as Judge of “all the nations.” (Matt. 25:32; compare
Daniel 7:13.) However, the parable of the sheep and the goats describes Jesus primarily as
Judge. (Read Matthew 25:31-34, 41, 46.) Since Jesus was not yet active as Judge of all
nations in 1914, his judgment of people as sheep or goats could not have started in that year.
When, then, will Jesus’ judgment begin?
12. (a) When will Jesus for the first-time act as Judge of all nations? (b) What events are
described at Matthew 24:30, 31 and Matthew 25:31-33, 46?
Jesus’ prophecy about the last days reveals that he will for the very first time act as
Judge of all nations after the destruction of false religion. As mentioned in paragraph 8, some
of the events that will occur during that time are recorded at Matthew 24:30, 31. When you
examine those verses, you will note that Jesus there foretells events that are similar to the
ones he mentions in the parable of the sheep and the goats. For example, the Son of man
comes with glory and with angels; all tribes and nations are gathered; those judged as sheep
“lift [their] heads up” because “everlasting life” awaits them. Those judged as goats “beat
themselves in lamentation,” realizing that “everlasting cutting-off” awaits them.—Matt.
25:31-33, 46.
13. (a) When will Jesus judge the people as sheep or goats? (b) How does this understanding
affect our view of our ministry?
So, then, what can we conclude? Jesus will judge people of all nations as sheep or
goats when he comes during the great tribulation. Then, at Armageddon, the climax of the
great tribulation, the goat like ones will be ‘cut off’ forever. How does that understanding
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affect our view of our ministry? It helps us to see how important our preaching work is. Until
the great tribulation begins, people still have time to change their thinking and start walking
on the cramped road “leading off into life.” (Matt. 7:13, 14) To be sure, people may now
display a sheeplike or a goatlike disposition. Nevertheless, we should remember that the final
judgment of who are sheep and who are goats is during the great tribulation. Therefore, we
have good reason for continuing to offer as many people as possible the opportunity to listen
to and respond to the Kingdom message.
Until the great tribulation begins, people still have time to change their thinking (See
paragraph 13)
WHEN DOES JESUS ARRIVE, OR COME?
14, 15. Which four scripture references apply to Christ’s future coming as Judge?
14 Does a further consideration of Jesus’ prophecy reveal that our understanding of the
timing of other significant events needs to be adjusted? The prophecy itself gives the answer.
Let us see how.
15 In the part of his prophecy that is recorded at Matthew 24:29–25:46, Jesus focuses
primarily on what will happen during these last days and during the coming great tribulation.
There, Jesus makes eight references to his “coming,” or arrival. Regarding the great
tribulation, he states: “They will see the Son of man coming on the clouds.” “You do not
know on what day your Lord is coming.” “At an hour that you do not think to be it, the Son
of man is coming.” And in his parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus states: “The Son of
man arrives in his glory.” (Matt. 24:30, 42, 44; 25:31) Each of these four references applies
to Christ’s future coming as Judge. Where in Jesus’ prophecy do we find the remaining four
references?
16. Jesus’ coming is mentioned in what other scriptures?
Regarding the faithful and discreet slave, Jesus says: “Happy is that slave if his master
on arriving [“having come,” ftn.] finds him doing so.” In the parable of the virgins, Jesus
states: “While they were going off to buy, the bridegroom arrived [“came,” Kingdom
Interlinear].” In the parable of the talents, Jesus relates: “After a long time the master of those
slaves came.” In the same parable, the master says: “On my arrival [“having come,” Int] I
would be receiving what is mine.” (Matt. 24:46; 25:10, 19, 27) To what time do these four
instances of Jesus’ coming refer?
17. What have we stated about the arrival mentioned at Matthew 24:46?
In the past, we have stated in our publications that these last four references apply to
Jesus’ arriving, or coming, in 1918. As an example, take Jesus’ statement about “the faithful
and discreet slave.” (Read Matthew 24:45-47.) We understood that the “arriving” mentioned
in verse 46 was linked to the time when Jesus came to inspect the spiritual condition of the
anointed in 1918 and that the appointment of the slave over all the Master’s belongings
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occurred in 1919. (Mal. 3:1) However, a further consideration of Jesus’ prophecy indicates
that an adjustment in our understanding of the timing of certain aspects of Jesus’ prophecy is
needed. Why so?
18. A consideration of Jesus’ prophecy in its entirety leads us to what conclusion about Jesus’
coming?
In the verses that lead up to Matthew 24:46, the word “coming” refers consistently to
the time when Jesus comes to pronounce and execute judgment during the great tribulation.
(Matt. 24:30, 42, 44) Also, as we considered in paragraph 12, Jesus’ ‘arriving’ mentioned at
Matthew 25:31 refers to that same future time of judgment. So it is reasonable to conclude
that Jesus’ arrival to appoint the faithful slave over all his belongings, mentioned at Matthew
24:46, 47, also applies to his future coming, during the great tribulation.* Indeed, a
consideration of Jesus’ prophecy in its entirety makes it clear that each of these eight
references to his coming applies to the future time of judgment during the great tribulation.
19. What adjustments in understanding did we consider, and what questions will be answered
in the following articles?
19 In review, what have we learned?
In the beginning of this article, we raised three “when” questions. We first considered
that the great tribulation did not begin in 1914 but will start when the United Nations attacks
Babylon the Great. Then, we reviewed why Jesus’ judgment of the sheep and the goats did
not begin in 1914 but will occur during the great tribulation. Finally, we examined why Jesus’
arrival to appoint the faithful slave over all his belongings did not occur in 1919 but will take
place during the great tribulation. So, then, all three “whens” apply to the same future time
period—the great tribulation. How does this adjusted view further affect our understanding
of the illustration of the faithful slave? Also, how does it affect our understanding of other
parables, or illustrations, of Jesus that are being fulfilled during this time of the end? These
important questions will be considered in the following articles.
Source: https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/w20130715/jesus-prophecy-last-
days/
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MATTHEW 24
Is Matthew 24 history or prophecy? It is a crucial prophetic question. The passage

clearly portrays a period of intense tribulation that will precede the Second Coming of Jesus.
Has this terrible period of tribulation already occurred or is it yet to occur? Is it past or future?
History or prophecy?
Two Conflicting Views
The premillennialist viewpoint, both historic and modern, holds this passage to be
predictive, yet-to-be-fulfilled sometime in the near future. According to the premillennial
view, the return of Jesus will be immediately preceded by a period of great, worldwide
tribulation that will particularly focus on the Jewish people.
The majority viewpoint of Christendom, both Catholic and Protestant, is the

amillennial view. As has been pointed out, this view spiritualizes Bible prophecy and
concludes that there will be no future Tribulation or Millennium. Amillennialists argue,
instead, that we are simultaneously experiencing both the Tribulation and the Millennium
right now and have been doing so since the Cross.
Although postmillennialists would argue that the millennium is still future, they
would agree with the amillennialists that Matthew 24 was fulfilled in the First Century
destruction of Jerusalem. They conclude, therefore, that there will be no future Tribulation.
Matthew 24 thus emerges as a key prophetic passage. Those who spiritualize prophecy
(amillennialists and postmillennialists) argue that it has been fulfilled in history and therefore
reject the idea that it points to a period of severe tribulation immediately preceding the return
of Jesus. Those who interpret prophecy more literally (premillennialists) contend that the
passage awaits fulfillment. They therefore feel that it definitely points to a period of
tribulation before the Lord returns.
Inconsistent Interpretation
The interpretation given to Matthew 24 by amillennialists and postmillennialists is

very interesting. It is also very inconsistent with the way they interpret other prophecies.
Instead of spiritualizing it, like they do most prophetic passages, they accept it to be literal
prophecy. But they argue that it is prophecy that was fulfilled 40 years after it was spoken
when the Roman legions under Titus destroyed Jerusalem in 70 A.D. and scattered the Jews
across the world.
So, what about our central question? Is Matthew 24 history or prophecy? Is it past or
future? Was it fulfilled in 70 A.D. or is it yet to occur?
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I believe Matthew 24 was prefilled in type in the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
and is therefore yet to be fulfilled in history. And I think I can prove that from the passage
itself.
Daniel’s Prophecy
To begin with, consider verse 15. It says the period of intense persecution of Jews
will begin when “the abomination of desolation,” spoken of by Daniel, is seen “standing in
the holy place.”
We have no historical record of such an event taking place in 70 A.D. Unlike the
Greek tyrant, Antiochus Epiphanes, who desecrated the Temple’s holy place in 168 B.C. by
erecting within it an altar to Zeus, Titus took no such action in 70 A.D. before he destroyed
the city and the Temple.
The Intensity of the Tribulation
The second point to note is found in verse 21. It says that the period of Jewish
persecution that will follow the desecration of the Temple will be the most intense in all of
history, “since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall [be].”
These words were not fulfilled in 70 A.D. The persecution which the Jews
experienced under Titus was severe, but it pales in comparison to what the Jews suffered
during the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.
Josephus says the Romans killed a million Jews in the 70 A.D. siege of Jerusalem.
Historians are convinced that this number is greatly exaggerated. But even if it is true, it is
nothing compared to the six million Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis.
Furthermore, the prophet Zechariah tells us that during the end times a total of two-
thirds of the Jewish people will die during a period of unparalleled calamity (Zechariah 13:8-
9). In other words, there is a period of Jewish persecution yet to occur that will even exceed
the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust. Consider verse 21 again: “for then there will be a great
tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever
shall.” Did Jesus mean what He said or not? Surely this is not an example of hyperbole, of
exaggeration to make a point. Everything in the passage fairly screams that we are to take
Jesus’ words literally.
The conclusion is inescapable. The tribulation experienced by the Jews in 70 A.D.

was not the greatest “since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall be.”
The Severity of the Tribulation
The third piece of evidence is found in verse 22. Jesus says that the period of “great
tribulation” (verse 21) that He is talking about will be so severe that all life will cease unless
the period is cut short.
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You and I live in the only generation in history when these words could be literally
fulfilled. There was no possibility in 70 A.D. that the siege of Jerusalem would lead to the
extinction of all life. But that is a very real threat today due to the development and
deployment of nuclear weapons.
The best selling book of 1982, The Fate of the Earth, proved that if there is ever an all out
nuclear exchange between the United States and Russia, all life on earth will cease to exist.
The Proximity of the Tribulation
The fourth clue that Matthew 24 is yet to be fulfilled is found in verse 29. It says the
Lord will return “immediately after the tribulation of those days.” How can we escape the
impact of the word “immediately”? I don’t think we can. It clearly ties the preceding events
to the immediate time of Jesus’ return.
As I have pointed out in the previous chapter, some amillennialists and

postmillennialists have tried to deal with this problem in a fanciful way by claiming that the
Second Coming of Jesus actually occurred in 70 A.D.! That, of course, is ludicrous, but it
shows the extent to which some people will go to try to make Scripture conform to a
particular doctrine.
The Context of the Tribulation
The final evidence that Matthew 24 was not fulfilled in 70 A.D. is to be found in
verses 32-35, where Jesus says that all the things He has spoken of concerning the Tribulation
will be fulfilled during the generation that sees the “fig tree” reblossom. Here is the key to
the timing of the prophecy’s fulfillment.
What is the “fig tree”? Think back for a moment to what had happened the day before.
Jesus had put a curse on a barren fig tree (Matthew 21:18-19), causing it to wither. It was a
prophetic sign that God would set the Jewish nation aside because of their spiritual barrenness
— that is, their refusal to accept Jesus as their Messiah. The fig tree is a symbol of the nation
of Israel (Hosea 9:10; Jeremiah 24:1-10; Joel 1:7; Luke 13:6-9).
Now, the next day, Jesus calls the fig tree to mind and says, “Watch it. When it
reblossoms, all these things will happen.”
The setting aside of Israel occurred in 70 A.D. The reblossoming took place in 1948
when the nation of Israel was re-established.
A Fact to Ponder
Matthew 24 is not history. The terrible events of 70 A.D. were a classic prefillment
in type of the ultimate fulfillment that will occur immediately before the Lord returns.
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Matthew 24 is prophecy yet to be fulfilled. It is going to be fulfilled soon, for Israel
has been regathered, the nation has been re-established, and the nations of the world are
coming together against the Jewish state. The wrath of God is about to fall. We are on the
threshold of the Great Tribulation.
As you ponder this reality, are you ready for it? Have you received Jesus as your Lord
and Savior? The Bible says that if you put your faith in Jesus, you need not fear the wrath of
God, for “having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God
through Him” (Romans 5:9).
Source: http://christinprophecy.org/articles/matthew-24/
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The Rapture and Tribulation.
THE RAPTURE
AND
TRIBULATION
233
DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. They claim that the “Rapture” is a Biblical word because comes right out of the Latin
Vulgate translation of the Bible.
2. The doctrine teaches that Jesus will bring with Him the spirits of those who have died
in Him (1 Thessalonians 4:14). He will resurrect their bodies in a great miracle of re-
creation; He will reunite their bodies with their spirits; and He will then glorify their
bodies, making them immortal.
3. Some place it at the end of the Tribulation, making it one and the same event as the
Second Coming. Others place it in the middle of the Tribulation. Still others believe
that it will occur at the beginning of the Tribulation.
4. The tribulation: Doctrine that teaches that evil men will pass through for an
“unequalled tribulation” and that the true Church would be exempt of such.
5. These are the passages that they use to support their doctrine: Jeremiah 30:7; Matthew
24:21; Daniel 12:1 and Mark 13:19.
Doctrine Defeated.
The Rapture.
1. The Scriptures do not teach a secret rapturing (transporting or lifting up) of some
faithful Christians before the end of time, but as Paul says later (1 Thessalonians 4:17)
there will be a very public and visible one of all Christians at the end of time.
2. It denies the one and only second coming of Christ by teaching many comings of
Christ: There is one coming of Christ (Hebrews 9:28), one final judgment (Acts
17:31; II Tim. 4:1).
3. It denies the universal coming of Christ: The Bible teaches that ALL nations will be
before Him (Matthew 25:31-46).
4. It contradicts John 5:28-29: Jesus said the righteous dead and the wicked dead will
come forth in the SAME HOUR (The Rapture has a seven-year interval;
premillennialism has a thousand-year interval between the resurrection of the two
classes.)
5. It contradicts 2 Peter 3:10-12: It describes the Lord’s coming as occurring in a DAY.
The Rapture theory demands the continuation of this old earth after the Lord comes
to Rapture his saints.
The Tribulation.
6. Matthew 24 is used to support the tribulation theory, but the passage has to do with
the destruction of Jerusalem and “great tribulation, such as hath not been from the
beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be” (v. 21), was to be fulfilled
before the generation living when Christ uttered that prediction had passed away (v.
34). And, amazingly true to said prediction, Jerusalem was destroyed in A. D. 70,
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within a generation of our Lord’s prediction, Moreover, according to Josephus, it was
with unparalleled ferocity and intensity of tribulation (Wars of the Jews, Books V and
VI).
7. In Acts 14:22, after the rocks bounced off his head at Lystra, Paul mentioned that
entering the kingdom of the Master and “much tribulation” went together.
8. In I Cor. 15:30-31 and II Cor. 1:9 the great apostle made it clear that he was in
jeopardy constantly and “the sentence of death” hovered over him daily.
9. In John 16:33 our blessed Redeemer made it crystal clear that those disciples of His
in the first century -would have tribulation in the world of that day!
10. In Romans 8:18 and Philippians 1:29 Paul made it abundantly sure that believing on
Christ and suffering for the cause of the Lord go together “in this present time.”
Indeed, to suffer with Him is to reign with the Redeemer (II. Tim. 2:11).
11. In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:10-12) and in John 16 our Savior tied
persecution and following Him inseparably together.
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True
TRUE
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LAST THINGS: THE RAPTURE; 1 THESSALONIANS 4:13-14
(Earl Edwards)
Those who are most vocal about the “rapture” (a catching up, lifting up) believe that
Christ will come sometime before the final judgement and take some Christians away with
him. These, then, they say, will come back “with him” when he comes in his second coming.
The passage they depend on most is 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14.
4:13
“For we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, that
you may not grieve, as do the rest who have no hope. [All Scripture references are from the
New American Standard unless otherwise stated.]
Paul is not here accusing them of being “ignorant” (KJV), “uninformed” is a better
translation and he is therefore in this letter trying to supply the information they need (cf.
Rm. 11:25; 1 Cor. 12:1-2). In this situation, the information needed regarded the second
coming of Christ.
And, more specifically, Paul is trying to help the Thessalonians understand about
“those who are asleep.” “Asleep” here is a euphemism (soft word for a harsh reality) for
physical death. Some of the Thessalonians’ loved ones had died. They were sorrowing, not
only about that loss, but also because when Paul had been there in person they had
misunderstood a part of his teaching regarding the second coming of Christ. They had
correctly understood that it would be a great and glorious event which would feature the
faithful being taken away to be with Christ forever.
They had, however mistakenly understood that all this would happen very soon, that
is, before any of them died. Instead, Paul had left and Christ had not returned and now some
of their loved ones had fallen “asleep” and they feared that these loved ones would be denied
the privilege of participation in Christ’s glorious return.
They were therefore experiencing intense sorrow for those loved ones according to
the report Timothy had brought back to Paul (cf. 3:6). Their concern, as indicated earlier,
was for their loved ones who had died since Paul’s departure and before participating in
Christ’s second coming.
They feared they would totally miss out on the great second coming event. Paul tells
them to “not grieve.” Such sorrow is only appropriate for “the rest who have no hope,” that
is, for non-believers (those who are “outsiders” -- verse 12), those who have “no hope” of
final liberation from sin and therefore they have “no hope” of eternal life (cf. Rm. 8:21 and
Eph., 2:12).
Paul does not here forbid all sorrow or grief (Jesus was sorrowful over Lazarus’ death
-- Jn. 11:35), but he does indicate that it is illogical for the believer to be consumed with the
grief of “no hope.” Such sorrow is logical only for non-believers.
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4:14
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him
those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.”
“For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again” here does not indicate doubt
regarding either Jesus’ death or resurrection, for “if” sometimes, as here, carries the meaning
of “since.” Essentially Paul says: “since we believe in the death and resurrection of Christ
we also believe in the resurrection of Christians who are now ‘asleep in Jesus’.” For, as he
says elsewhere, Christ is only the “firstfruits” of the resurrection (cf. 1 Cor. 15:22 ff.) and the
term “firstfruits” implies others will also be resurrected, that is, “those who are Christ’s at
his coming” (1 Cor. 15:23). Here in this passage he says the Christians who are to be
resurrected as Christ was, will be acted upon by “God” who will cause Christ to “bring” these
resurrected Christians “with him,” that is, with Christ.
The question is: will they be “with him” when he comes back to earth in his second
coming as certain teachers who believe in the Rapture and some others say,2 or will they be
“with him” in the sense of being raised by God at Christ’s second coming and then being
“with him” as he ascends again? Paul answers that question in the passage already quoted
from 1 Corinthians. But this time notice the passage (1 Cor. 15:22-24) and its immediate
context:
In Christ all shall be made alive. But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, after
that those who are Christ’s at his coming, then comes the end, when he delivers up
the kingdom to the God and Father....
This passage says Christ’s people who are dead (all of them) will be “made alive ...
at his coming.” None will die and be “made alive” previous to “his coming” in order to come
back to earth “with him.” That “coming” will immediately precede the “end” of all things
when Christ will deliver the kingdom to the Father. All of this says these resurrected saints
will be brought “with” Christ back into heaven as a part of the great second coming event.
Also, favoring this conclusion, is the fact that the contrast in this passage is not
between unbelieving and believing living, as the “rapturist view” would demand, rather it is
between those who died as believers before Christ’s return (those “asleep in Jesus”) and those
believers still living at Thessalonica.
Also, favoring this conclusion is the comment of McGarvey who says, “with him”
does not (emphasis mine E.E.) here mean that Jesus will bring the disembodied spirits from
heaven to the resurrection, but that God, who brought Jesus from the grave, will also bring
from the grave, in conjunction with Jesus, all those who entered it with their lives spiritually
united with Jesus.”
Williams adds: “thus the resurrection of the believers, is not a separate event, but they
participate in Jesus’ resurrection: they will be raised up ‘with Jesus.’” Thus, interpreted the
passage becomes parallel to 2 Corinthians 4:14: “Knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus
will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you.”
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CONCLUSION
Therefore, the Scriptures do not teach a secret rapturing (transporting or lifting up) of
some faithful Christians before the end of time, but as Paul says later (in verse 17) there will
be a very public and visible one of all Christians at the end of time.
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “At His Coming” - 1998, Earl Edwards: Last things:
The Rapture 1 Thessalonians 4:13-14. Pages 99-101.
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PREMILLENNIALIST DOCTRINE OF “THE RAPTURE” IS FALSE
(Robert R. Taylor, Jr.)
Perhaps you have seen bumper stickers on cars which were just ahead of you which
said, “In case of the Rapture, this car will be vacated” or “Will I see you in the Rapture?” No
doubt you have heard songs about the Rapture and listened to denominational preachers as
they have expounded upon the Rapture. Have you wondered just what the Rapture is? Is it a
Biblical doctrine? Are its teachings in harmony or in conflict with the Bible? In harmony
with the title of this article this writer will show clearly and forcefully that the Rapture facet
of the Premillennial dogma is false to the very core. If the Rapture were true, it would have
neither part nor parcel with the Premillennial persuasion.
Defining the Term.
The Rapture is supposed to refer to a time when the Lord will come and take his
people somewhere up in the air for some seven years. The righteous dead will be raised from
their resting places either in the earth or the sea. The righteous living will be caught up into
this Rapturous Somewhere in the Airy Above. The people who remain on earth will not know
where all these have gone. They will not be able to account for their totally unexpected
disappearance. They will have no adequate answer as to the open graves once occupied but
no longer inhabited by bodies once deposited there. While this highly select group is with the
Lord during the period of the Rapture there will be a time of tribulation on earth without
ancient or modern parallel. There will be fear. There will be anxiety. There will be death on
a mass scale. Nobody will know just what is happening but all will agree that nothing
preceding this calamity has reached its painful parallel. Some will try to account for all the
wholesale suffering purely on naturalistic grounds. They will witness no supernatural
connection with it at all.
This is basically what the movie entitled “The Rapture” sought to set forth. I saw it
when the Baptists brought it to Ripley, Mississippi, when I lived there. I then wrote a number
of newspaper articles for the SOUTHERN SENTINEL, a Ripley based paper, in a full
refutation of this movie and no Rapture proponent in that whole area sought to refute my
arguments. This movie sought to depict what is supposed to happen when the righteous are
caught up into the Rapture and all the wicked dead and the sinful living are left here. The
movie depicted how that the President of the United States could not be found; Billy Graham
could not be found. A long-haired singer on the Tonight Show disappeared while he was
singing his song. Evidently, one in open violation of I Corinthians 11:14 will not miss out on
the Rapture. The movie relates how that economic experts within the Common Market of
European Nations come together to deal with the emerging problems. One expert works out
a system where people can be identified with a certain number placed on their hand. Shades
of Revelation 13 and the mark of the beast were seemingly incorporated into the aspects of
this portion of the movie.
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Is there a Biblical basis for all this popular propaganda we are being fed relative to
the Rapture in general and this movie in particular? NOT IN THE LEAST! Will there be
such a Rapture as this movie has unfolded? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Do the various concepts
relative to the Rapture contradict the plainest of scriptural teaching? MOST ASSUREDLY!
Here is why. Here is why the theory is fanciful and filled to overflowing with falsehood.
Too Many Comings of Christ.
It has Jesus coming FOR the saints. This is at the beginning of the Rapture. Then it
has Jesus coming WITH the saints. This is at the end of the Rapture. These are two comings
of the Lord within a seven-year period. But to fit the premillennial persuasion, of which it is
an integral part, Jesus will not raise the wicked dead until at the end of his thousand-year
reign from David’s throne in literal Jerusalem. But Jude 14-15 pictures the coming of Jesus
Christ to execute judgment upon the ungodly. Thus, called for is another coming of the Lord
in judgment upon the wicked. Also, called for are a number of final judgments and at different
times. The fanciful theory calls for entirely too many comings of our Lord and too many final
judgments. The Bible speaks of his once coming a second time (Heb. 9:28). The Bible speaks
of one final judgment (Acts 17:31; II Tim. 4:1). Contrary to this whole system of fanciful
falsehood and egregious error there WILL NOT be the various stages of his second coming
and a number of final judgments widely separated by many years.
A Denial of His Universal Coming.
The Rapture calls for only a portion of humanity, not the entire universe, to see Jesus
when he comes the second time. Only the righteous dead and the righteous living will see
him when he first comes as per the Rapture theory. The remainder of the living will not see
him for at least seven years. As per the theory, those among the righteous dead will not see
him until the thousand years of the premillennial reign are finished. Yet Revelation 1:7
affirms, “Behold, he cometh with the clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they that
pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn over him. Even so, Amen.”
Matthew 25:31-46 has ALL nations before the Christ at his coming. Both wicked and
righteous are there. It all occurs at the same time. There is a great separation that then occurs.
The wicked are placed on the left and the righteous on the right. Each is told the WHY of the
respective placement. Those on the left go to hell; those on the right go to heaven. There is
NO ROOM in Matthew 25 for the Rapture theory, the tribulation period, the thousand-year
reign of Jesus and a thousand-year interval between the resurrection of the righteous and the
wicked. Paul states in II Timothy 4:1, “I charge thee in the sights of God, and of Christ Jesus,
who shall judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom.” This is surely
a second coming passage. But it is also a judgment passage. Those who are alive will be
there. Those who are dead will be there. But we have already determined from Matthew
25:3146 that the judgment will contain both the righteous and the wicked. But the Rapture
has Jesus here for the Rapture with no judgment of the wicked occurring just subsequent to
his coming. The Rapture has some of the dead raised with others left in their tombs. The
Rapture theory, the tribulation period, the thousand-year reign of Jesus on earth and the
separation of the raising of the righteous dead and the unrighteous dead by a full millennium
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CANNOT be made to fit into II Timothy 4:1 or Matthew 25:31-46. This is precisely why this
popular theory is false. If it were true, it would have no place in a system of flagrant falsehood
such as premillennialism.
A Contradiction of John 5:28-29.
The passage says, “Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the
tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; ‘they that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.” Jesus
said the righteous dead and the wicked dead will come forth in the SAME HOUR. But the
Rapture does not have it that way at all. Proponents of the Rapture theory have the righteous
dead raised to meet the Lord in the air. They remain with him during the entire seven years
of the Rapture. But they still have the wicked dead in their tombs all this time.
The Rapture has a seven-year interval; premillennialism has a thousand-year interval

between the resurrection of the two classes. Added together and these false theories have a
full millennium and seven years between the resurrection of the two classes of the dead. Yet
the Lord said they would be raised the SAME HOUR. That SAME HOUR cannot be
stretched into more than a thousand years. There is not that type of elasticity in just one hour!
John 5:26-29 is inspired and thus is right; the Rapture theory is false and cannot be right.
A Contradiction of the “Last Day” Passages.
In John’s gospel record we read, “And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all
that which he hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the LAST DAY.
For this is the will of my Father, that everyone that beholdeth the Son and believeth on him,
should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the LAST DAY. No man can come to me,
except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the LAST DAY... He that
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the LAST
DAY. Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the LAST
DAY. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my sayings, hath one that judgeth him: the
word that I spake, the same shall judge him in the LAST DAY”. (John 6:39-40,44,54; 11:24;
12:46) (All emphases mine-RRT).
Jesus teaches clearly in these passages that the resurrection will be at the last day. He
also taught very clearly and decisively that the judgment of the wicked will be at the last day.
But we have already learned from John 526-29 that the resurrection of both good and evil
will be within the same hour. When will that be? At the last day. But the Rapture theory has
not only days but even years between the resurrection of the two classes-the good and the
bad. The premillennial theory has even centuries separating the resurrection of the two
groups. HOW can there be days, months, years, and even ten full centuries plus beyond what
Jesus called the LAST DAY? The last day passages in John’s gospel stand as a thorough
refutation of the Rapture theory.
A Contradiction of II Thessalonians 1:6-10.
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The passage says, “….if so be that it is a righteous thing with God to recompense
affliction to them that afflict you, and to you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation
of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering
vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord
Jesus: who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and
from the glory of his might, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be
marveled at in all them that believed (because our testimony unto you was believed) in that
day.” Paul discusses two groups in this passage. One group is composed of those who are
troubled, who are persecuted and who are afflicted. In this passage, Paul also talks about two
compensations. To the persecuting element, God will one day render tribulation or affliction.
To those who have been afflicted God will one day render rest. When will this tribulation be
rendered to the wicked element? When will the rest be rewarded to the righteous element?
Both will occur when Jesus comes in flaming fire to take vengeance on the infidels and those
who have not obeyed his gospel. They both will occur when he comes to render rest to the
righteous. They both will occur when he comes to separate the wicked forever from his
presence and from the glory of his power and might; when he comes to be glorified in his
saints and to be admired in all them that are faithful. It will be “IN THAT DAY” (Emphasis
mine-RRT.) But the Rapture does not have nearly all this happening “in that day” of his
second coming. They do not have the obedient receiving eternal or heavenly rest, only a
Rapturous rest, on that day. The Rapture will not fit the framework of II Thessalonians 1:6-
10. That is another reason why the fanciful theory is false to the very core of its teaching.
A Contradiction of II Peter 3:10-12.
The passage states, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent
heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing that these things
are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and
godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of
which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat?” Without controversy, this is a second coming passage. It describes the Lord’s coming
as occurring in a DAY. That DAY is going to witness the burning of this earth and the total
dissolution of its elements. But the Rapture theory demands the continuation of this old earth
after the Lord comes to Rapture his saints. They contend the wicked dead will still be buried
in its bosom and that the wicked living will still be on its surface though suffering great
tribulation. The Rapture says the earth will continue after his coming. Second Peter 3:10-12
says it will be burned at his coming. Either the Rapture is wrong or else Peter taught an
egregious error. If anyone has trouble deciding which one is right, he is in real spiritual
trouble. Just how many will hold on to the popular Rapture theory and thus make the inspired
Peter a false teacher and the Holy Spirit into a Spirit of error? Yet many will do that very
thing rather than give up a fanciful and fatal falsehood. And the Rapture is both FANCIFUL
and FALSE!
Source: The Spiritual Sword, Volume 9, October 1977, Premillennialism – Part 1; Robert R.
Taylor Jr: Premillennialist doctrine of the rapture is false. Pages 28-31.
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THE DOCTRINE OF “THE TRIBULATION” IS FALSE
(Cecil N. Wright)
All premillennialists believe the second coming of Christ will precede what they call
the millenium (hence the term “premillennialism”) and most (if not all) likewise believe in a
great tribulation (the greatest of all time) immediately before the millennium. But they differ
as to whether the tribulation will be before or after the second coming of Christ. Historic
premillennialism is post-tribulationist, believing the second coming will follow the
tribulation and that the church will experience it. The later dispensational premillennialism
(more popular in America) is pre-tribulationist, holding that the second coming will recede
the tribulation and that the church will be “raptured” so as to escape it.
Another difference is that dispensationalism has two future comings of Christ,

whereas historic premillennialism does not. The first (which is the second coming) is called
the “rapture” and the second (which is a third coming) is called the “revelation.” The former
will be Christ coming for his saints, which may be secret and occur any moment. The latter
will be Christ coming with his saints (whom he had come for and raptured), to set up his
kingdom and reign a thousand years on earth. This coming will be visible to all (hence the
term “revelation”), and will occur seven years after the rapture. The “tribulation” occupies
only the second half of the seven years between the second and third comings of Christ, but
gives its name to the entire period, which is the sixth of seven dispensations of earthly history.
The fifth dispensation is the church age, from Pentecost till the second coming (the rapture).
The seventh is the kingdom age (or millennium), ushered in by the third coming of
Christ (the revelation). The writer believes that the premillennial doctrine of the tribulation,
whether pre-tribulationist or post-tribulationist, is false. But, since it was William E.
Blackstone who first popularized dispensationalism and post-tribulationism in America
(ahead of C. I. Scofield in his Scofield Reference Bible), we shall quote from his book, Jesus
is Coming, “by W. E. B.” (he used only his initials), (Re-revised Edition; New York: Fleming
H. Revel1 Company, 1906). Of the “tribulation,” he says: “We use the term to designate the
whole period of earthly history, between the Rapture and the Revelation, or between the
Church and the Millennial Kingdom… Doubtless it embraces the last one of Daniel’s seventy
weeks (Dan. 9:24-27), for the reason that God begins to deal with Israel again, after He has
taken the Church away,” etc. (P. 96.)
In much greater detail, he describes it in the following note: “[The Tribulation, or

time between the Rapture and the Revelation in which there will be a period of seven years,
(1) at the commencement of which those Jews who shall have returned to their land in
unbelief, (2) and have rebuilt or be rebuilding their temple, (3) enter into a seven-years’
covenant with the Antichrist. (4) On the expiration of three and a half years he is revealed in
his true character as the Man of Sin, (5) kills the two witnesses who have been prophesying
during that time, (6) stops the daily sacrifice which had been resumed, (7) and has his own
Image set up in the Holy Place. (6) The Devil and his angels are cast out into the earth, having
great wrath, because their time is short. (9) Then following, during the last three and a half
years (10) the treading under foot of the holy city (11) and the time of the ‘great tribulation,
such as was not since the beginning of the world, no, nor ever shall be,’ (12) which, under
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the Antichrist (13) and his Prophet (14) shall come upon all the world; (15) the penalty of
death being suffered by as many as refuse to worship the Image of the Beast, (16) and
unparalleled persecution undergone by all who have not received his mark. (17) A third part
of the Jews in the land are brought through this time of trouble, (16) and are gathered by the
Lord into Jerusalem, (19) to be purged of their dross. (20) The nations are assembled against
the city; which is taken by them, great suffering being inflicted upon the inhabitants, half of
whom are carried into captivity. (21) The remnant no more more again stay upon him that
smote them, but stay upon the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. (22) The kings of the
earth are gathered to battle against Jehovah and his Anointed. (23) Then shall the Lord go
forth, (24) with his saints, for the destruction of his enemies and the deliverance of his people.
(25)] The Revelation” (the next sub-topic of the chapter). (Pp. 16786.)
The alert and knowledgeable Bible student will recognize that the above is a skillfully
but artificially arranged mosaic of tidbits of mostly unrelated Scriptures found here and there
over the Bible. Space prohibits an effort at refutation point by point. And some of it will be
refuted by other articles in this issue of the Spiritual Sword. So, we shall confine our efforts
to the general concept of a dispensation called “The Tribulation.” 1. In the first place, there
is no such concept in Scripture-of trials and tribulations of various sorts and intensities
throughout history, yes, but of a dispensation called “The Tribulation,” no. 2. In the second
place, a key passage (Matthew 24) used to support the above tribulation theory and having
to do with the destruction of Jerusalem and “great tribulation, such as hath not been from the
beginning of the world until now, no, nor ever shall be” (v. 21), was to be fulfilled before the
generation living when Christ uttered that prediction had passed away (v. 34). And,
amazingly true to said prediction, Jerusalem was destroyed in A. D. 70, within a generation
of our Lord’s prediction, Moreover, according to Josephus, it was with unparalleled ferocity
and intensity of tribulation (Wars of the Jews, Books V and VI).
Of course, premillennialists challenge the above interpretation of “this generation,”

saying that the Greek word genea (generation) means race or stock and insisting that Jesus
meant the Jewish race “shall not pass away, till all these things be accomplished.” And that
the word may refer to race or stock is correct, as indicated by Thayer’s Greek-English
Lexicon of the New Testament. It gives the following definitions: “1. a begetting, birth,
nativity: . . .; 2. passively, that which has been begotten, men of the same stock, a family; a.
prop… the several ranks of a natural descent, the successive members of a genealogy: . . . b.
metaph. a race of men very like each other in endowments, pursuits, character; and esp. in
a bad sense a perverse race: . . .3. the whole mu/Crude of men living at the same time...; used
esp. of the Jewish race living at one and the same period: .4. an age (i.e. the time ordinarily
occupied by each successive generation), the space of from 30 to 33 years...” (Supporting
references and examples have been omitted for lack of space, as indicated; but Scripture
references are given by Thayer for 2, 3, and 4.) But any notion that Jesus spoke of “this
generation” in Matt. 24:34 in the sense of the Jewish race in perpetuity is not warranted by
the context. It is evident that it is used in the same sense as in Matt. 23:36, where Jesus said,
“Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation,” as distinguished
from their fathers before them (vs. 29-35). So it is evident that in 24% as well as in 23:36
“this generation” was the “multitude of men living at the same time” as Jesus, and
particularly, of course, the Jewish race living at that time, not some hundreds or thousands
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of years later. 3. In the third place, “the tribulation” conjectured by dispensationalists after
the second coming of Christ could not possibly be the one predicted by Christ in Matthew 24
as they claim, for still another basic reason. That reason is that the saints are supposed to
escape the former by being “raptured” (caught up) from the earth for seven years, whereas to
escape the tribulation foretold by Christ they were to “flee” (vs. 15-21). 4. In the fourth place,
it is impossible that the last of Daniel’s seventy weeks (Dan. 9:24-27) should be the
dispensationalists’ seven years of “tribulation” after the second coming of Christ.
For those seventy weeks were decreed upon the Jews and their holy city “to finish
transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to
bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most
holy,” which occurred in connection with Christ’s first coming-much of it in connection with
his death. By common consent, those were 70 weeks of years, or 490 years, counting from
“the going forth of the commandment to build Jerusalem.” They were divided into seven
weeks (49 years, during which Jerusalem was rebuilt), 62 weeks (434 years), and one week
(7 years). There were four decrees by Persian kings to rebuild Jerusalem after its destruction
by the Babylonians. These were by Cyrus, 536 B.C. (Ezra 1;2-4); by Darius, 519 B.C. (Ezra
6:1-12, confirming the first); by Artaxerxes, 457 B.C. (Ezra 7:11-26); and by Ahasuerus, 444
B.C. (Neh. 1:1-2:8). Counting from the third decree, the 70 weeks would take us to A.D. 33.
But “from the going forth of the commandment to build Jerusalem unto to anointed one (the
Christ), the prince, shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks” (483years) which
brings us to A.D. 26, the year Jesus was baptized and began his ministry. In about three and
one-half years afterward he was crucified, “in the midst” of the seventieth consecutive week.
It was “after” the sixty-ninth week that “the anointed one” was to be “cut off.” And “in the
midst of the week” he was to “cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease.” It was to his
cross that the law of Moses, calling for sacrifice and oblation, was nailed (Cot 2:14; cf. Eph.
2:14-16; also Heb. 9 and 10).
Also after the sixty-ninth week, but how long afterward was not stated, the city and
the sanctuary were to be destroyed, with war involved; and “upon the wing of abominations
shall come one that maketh desolate; and even unto the full end, and that determined, shall
wrath be poured out upon the desolate.” This was likely fulfilled in the destruction of
Jerusalem in A.D. 70, which was basically the result of rejecting the Christ who was crucified
“in the midst” of the seventieth consecutive week after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem. The
foregoing seems to be the only natural and unstrained interpretation of Daniel’s seventy
weeks. And by no stretch of the imagination can the seventieth week of Daniel apply to time
after the second coming of Christ, except by detaching it from the preceding weeks and
deferring it for hundreds and maybe thousands of years-which is precisely what the
dispensationalists do-denying that v. 24 has any connection with the death of Christ, which
it most obviously does. But this is because the theory demands it, not because the prophecy
does so. And so, it is with the other points of the theory in regard to the so-called “tribulation”
between the second and a conjectured third coming of Christ. Surely the premillennialist
doctrine of “the tribulation” is false, and very false.
Source: The Spiritual Sword, Volume 9, October 1977, Premillennialism – Part 1; Cecil N.
Wright: The doctrine of tribulation is false. Pages 31-33.
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THE RAPTURE AND THE TRIBULATION
(Johnny Ramsey)
One reason members of the Lord’s church know so little about the rapture and the
tribulation is that the Bible does not mention these matters. They are the result of man’s vivid
imagination and the intricate weaving of denominational dogma. Moody Bible Institute has
pushed these concepts to coincide with the dispensational aspects of their premillennial
leanings. No one, reading the Bible by itself, would ever find these matters in the sacred
pages. One needs help and lots of it from sectarian sources to even find a hint of such teaching
in any of the 66 books of the Bible. It is amazing indeed that so much of the religious
community in America, and around the world, builds a high percentage of what it believes
on issues never found in Holy Scripture. It is evident to any honest observer that the notes in
the “Scofield Bible” have had more impact than the inspired words themselves in many hearts
in the denominational world! Harry Rimmer once confessed that he was amazed to find that
what he believed about the end of the world had not been based on Bible teaching but what
Darby and other premillennial teachers and books had said. An honest reading of all the major
“proof-texts” will prove this to be true. When we let, the Bible have its proper say, in context,
the favorite passages of the false teachers crumble into the dust of error in the light of sacred
truth. There is no way that Hal Lindsay could ever sustain his fanciful theories with a person
conversant with the Bible. Sadly, most people “do greatly err, not knowing the Scriptures”
(Mark 12:24). Thousands prefer flamboyant error to simple Truth as 11 Thess. 2: 10-12
affirms!
I. RAPTURE
The word rapture is not even in the Scriptures and the doctrine with that name is
unscriptural also. The books of I and II Thessalonians, read honestly in context, forever
disprove such a notion. Both epistles were written to the same people and discuss one major
point: The Coming of the Lord. Not one single time in the eight chapters of the two books do
we see any indication of more than one coming of the Savior. No careful reader of the Bible
could ever find all the comings and judgments the premillennial folk claim for their
complicated doctrine. You would think -to listen to their theology -that Paul said to the
Thessalonians things never found in the Bible, anywhere! In I Thess. 1:10; 3:13; 4:13-18;
5:2-3 and II Thess. 2:3-12 and 1::4-10 we have the inspired record concerning the matter and
not one verse teaches what the premillennial people believe concerning the rapture and the
tribulation. Were it not for false doctrine that has invented such propaganda such teaching
would never have been known because the Bible itself does not include such matters!
Summing up the Thessalonian correspondence on the Lord’s coming, Paul wrote

these cogent points:
(1) Patiently wait for His coming.
(2) He will come as a thief in the night.
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(3) Christians should be comforted by the Lord’s return.
(4) When He does come both the ungodly and the righteous shall be dealt with.
(5) Those who have died in the Lord shall be joined with the Christians still alive to
meet the Lord in the air.
(6) But, at the same time (Acts 24:15; John 5:28-29; 11 Thess. 1:4-10) the disobedient
will be separated (banished) from the “presence of the Lord and the glory of His
power.”
(7) Not one word is mentioned about 7 years of rapture for the saints and great
tribulation for those remaining on the earth. This is a concoction of men and not a
mandate from heaven.
The dispensationalist tries desperately to create a distinction between Christ’s coming

for the saints and His coming with the saints. Their favorite verse for this ploy is [Thess. 3:13
but it just will not work for the following reasons:
(1) Many scholars believe that those whom the Lord brings with him (“the holy ones”)
are angels -not men -~ as 11 Thessalonians 1:7-9 portrays. Leon Morris, in his
commentary, blends together both angels and the saints of God as present with Christ
when He comes.
(2) In Ecclesiastes 12:7 we learn that when we die our spirit returns to God and our
body returns to the dust. It is significant that
both Daniel 12:2 and Matthew 27:52 inform us that the body sleeps in the grave not
the spirit.
(3) In Hebrews 12:23 Christians were informed that they were enrolled in heaven with
“the Spirits of just men made perfect.”
(4) Evidently, then, when we are raised (John 5:28-29) in the last day (John 12:48)
our bodies will come forth from the grave and as we rise to meet the Lord in the air
(I Thess.-1:17) He shall meet us and our spirit will be joined with our body. This
harmonizes with Scripture. The rapture and tribulation theories clash with Bible
teaching!
Dispensationalists proclaim that the rapture period is of seven years duration.

According to this theory of theirs the saints will be at peace while sinners are in great
tribulation on earth. But, the Lord Jesus Christ taught in two parables of Matthew 13 that
there is no separation of good and evil until the end of the world. We should all carefully
read the exciting lessons contained in the parables of the tares and the fishnet. Our Savior
clearly stated that the righteous and the ungodly would dwell side by side until separated for
all eternity into either heaven or hell (Matthew 13: 30-50). In John (6:39-54) Christ
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mentioned that such would take place in the last day. There will be but one resurrection
composed of both the good and the evil (Acts 24:15). An honest reading of l Corinthians
15:23-26 corresponds to this same arrangement where both the righteous and the disobedient
are dealt with the same time ~that is, at the end when Jesus comes.
In 1 Timothy 6:13-14 and 1] Timothy 4:8 we find powerful words that plainly teach
us that the resurrection of the dead, the reward of the saints, the doom of sinners and the
glorious appearing of Christ (Titus 2:13) occur at the same precise moment (I Cor. 15:52).
It has always amazed me that the premillennial people cannot see their inconsistency
in regard to the Great Commission. The beautiful, compassionate challenge the Redeemer
gave his servants involves preaching the gospel to the lost “unto the end of the world” (Matt.
28:20). But, the rapture doctrine makes this impossible if the saints are taken away seven
years prior to the world’s end! There are so many problems in connection with the rapture
and tribulation theories that sincere Bible students must be able to detect. This is certainly
one of them! Jesus said He would raise up those who believe on Him at the last day (John
6:54). And, in both John 5:28-29 and II Thess. 1:4-10 the Scripture teaches He will raise up
the ungodly at the same time. Since, clearly, there can be no other days after the last day the
doctrines of premillennialism, rapture and tribulation fall into the dust of human error. One
of these days, known only to Jehovah (Matt. 24:36) the end of the world will come. Only
those who live and die in Christ will be prepared (John 8:21; Rev. 14:13). Others will not be
able to stand (Rev. 6:17). What tragedy to die in error and thus be unprepared to sing the
sweet song of redemption on the golden strand of glory!
Dr. Robert Strong gave this salient definition of the rapture doctrine:
“By the rapture is meant the sudden and possible secret coming of Christ in the air to
catch away from the earth the resurrected bodies of those who have died in the faith and with
them the living saints.”
However, according to Revelation 1:7 we learn that even» eye will see the Lord when
He comes. Yes, even the wicked ones who pierced the side of Jesus! There will be nothing
secret about the matter. It will not be quiet either. [n [1 Peter 3:10 and l Thess. 4 and 11
Thess. 1:4-10 we read of great noise, flaming fire and sound like a trumpet to accompany the
Lord’s coming. Dr. DeHaan of Michigan once wrote a dramatic account of what will happen
“at the rapture. “ His vivid imagination betrays a lack of basic understanding concerning the
nature of God. Paul wrote that “God is not the author of confusion” (I Cor. 14:33) but
DeHaan’s doctrine was full of chaos! He said that one morning men would awaken to find
wives and children missing and the highways would be filled with massive car wrecks
because some parents, offspring and drivers would be suddenly caught up in the clouds while
their sinful mates and co-workers would be left in great tribulation on the earth. That
unscriptural jargon spawned the bumper stickers we often read: “In case of rapture this car
will no longer have a driver.”
Seems to me the highway patrol should refuse to license folk who believe such a
doctrine. Error in religion makes people unsafe drivers!
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In Ephesians 4:5 we learn that there is one hope in Christianity. Some today, however,
hope for “God’s glorified earth” while othere eagerly anticipate the rapture. But New
Testament Christians hoped for heaven as II Cor. 5:1 and Hebrews 6:19-20 forever affirm!
In I Thessalonians, chapter four and II Thessalonians, chapter one, to the same identical
audience in each section -the Thessalonian church Paul, by inspiration, wrote concerning the
coming of the Lord. In the two chapters, the apostle deals with the saints, both dead and living
as well as the wicked, who will, at His coming, be rewarded according to their deeds (II Cor.
5:10; Rom. 2:6; Rev. 22:12). Paul informs us that when (adverb of time) the Lord comes He
will be admired by the redeemed at the same time the wicked are being overwhelmed by the
wrath of God. There is no place nor time for the so-called rapture (Heb. 9:27-28). The graphic
wording and descriptive analysis of the Thessalonian correspondence vividly show that the
righteous are not taken away before the judgment day but they are present with the wicked
until the time the ungodly receive punishment at which time the righteous receive their
reward (Rev. 20:11-15).
II. TRIBULATION
Now, let us turn our attention to the phase of premillennial heresy known as the great
tribulation. John Darby, the father of dispensational dogma, cited four passages that he
claimed had “unequalled tribulation” through which he said evil men will pass but from
which the true Church would be exempt. The verses Darby used were Jeremiah 30:7;
Matthew 24:21; Daniel 12:1 and Mark 13:19. A careful study of these passages, however,
ruins Darby’s philosophy. The verse in Jeremiah definitely identifies “the time of Jacob’s
trouble” as Babylonian captivity. Daniel’s reference to “a time of trouble” had to do with the
evil Seleucidan domination 175 years before Christ when Antiochus defiled the temple in
Jerusalem. In fact, the Jews of that day called this evil ruler’s ungodly tactic “the abomination
of desolation.” The passage Darby cited in Matthew 24:21 concerning “great tribulation” was
fulfilled in that generation (Matt. 24:35) at the destruction of Jerusalem. The reference to
Mark 13:19 is a parallel verse to Matthew 24:21!
Twenty times in the New Testament Christ and the apostles use the word tribulation
and refer it to the suffering, trials and persecution in this life that will befall the faithful
Christian. In the familiar parable of the sower in Matthew 13:21 our Lord taught that some
would “fall away” because of persecution and tribulation. In Acts 14:22, after the rocks
bounced off his head at Lystra, Paul mentioned that entering the kingdom of the Master and
“much tribulation” went together. In I Cor. 15:30-31 and II Cor. 1:9 the great apostle made
it clear that he was in jeopardy constantly and “the sentence of death” hovered over him daily.
In John 16:33 our blessed Redeemer made it crystal clear that those disciples of His in the
first century -would have tribulation in the world of that day! In Romans 8:18 and Philippians
1:29 Paul made it abundantly sure that believing on Christ and suffering for the cause of the
Lord go together “in this present time.” Indeed, to suffer with Him is to reign with the
Redeemer (II. Tim. 2:11). In the Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5:10-12) and in John 16 our
Savior tied persecution and following Him inseparably together. He clearly enunciated the
situation in John 15 :20 . . .
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“The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute
you.”
This is the great tribulation the saints John viewed, according to Revelation 7:14, had
come out of! Tried as gold in the fiery furnace of affliction (1 Pet. 1:7-8), they were released
from the impurity of the world and had counted such trials and duress as blessings that drew
them near to the heart of God (James 1:2-3; I Peter 4:16). Friends, this is the way the Bible
speaks of tribulation. The false doctrine of The Great TRIBULATION has nothing to do with
truth! As Boettner pungently states on page 177 of the brilliant book The Millennium so we
concur:
“Nowhere in the Bible is the word “tribulation” used in connection with a seven year
period at the end of the age, either while the church is still on the earth . . . or after the
church has been removed from the earth, as dispensationalism holds. Instead, it is
used to describe (1) the sufferings of Christians during this present age; (2) the
sufferings inflicted upon worldly rejecters of Christ; and (3) the sufferings especially
prophesied for the Jewish nation at various times in its past history. The most general
use is to describe the sufferings of Christians during this present age.”
One of the most unusual aspects of the theory concerning the great tribulation has to
do with the work of the Jews during that time, and especially the concept that the Holy Spirit
will not be around to help them -yet they will be highly successful anyway! What a strange
View indeed. The president of the Biblical Research Society said on page 34 of “God’s
Torchbearers”
“The greatest revival of all the ages will occur in the tribulation after the church has
been removed from the earth by the rapture.”
This is a good time to remind such folk of Hebrews 3:15 and II Cor. 6:2: “Now Is The
Accepted Time Today Is The Day of Salvation.” This foolish, antibiblical doctrine of the
second chance, makes gospel preaching in our day a farce. But, false teachers cannot
overthrow Bible truth.
In the Moody Press publication, Great Doctrines of the Bible, the dispensational
banner flies high. On page 320, SM. Coder boldly says the following as he discusses
tribulation:
“More space is devoted to it in the Old Testament than to the coming of Christ. Every
New Testament writer refers to it. The Revelation is largely a description of its leading
events . . . All nature is drawn upon to emphasize the terrors of those years.”
Then the writer quotes the words of the Lord concerning the destruction of Jerusalem
and applies those teachings to the tribulation! This is a normal but disastrous practice of the
dispensationalist preacher. Don’t you know that the persecuted saints who received
Revelation at the end of the first century would have wondered how tribulation could get
much worse than what the Romans were already doing to them?
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Perhaps the gravest error of the entire premillennial system including the rapture and
the tribulation has to do with the powerful nature of the events at Calvary and the glory of
Pentecost (Acts 2:36-41). The very idea of something more important or precious than the
shed blood of Christ and the pristine beauty of the church of the Lord borders on blasphemy
of the deepest kind. Anyone who would even suggest that the appeal of Truth through the
Scriptures now, cannot reach the lost like a period invented by sectarian dogma is abject
sacrilege!
I Thessalonians 4 does not say that the saints shall be caught up to meet the Lord in
the air and “there shall we be for seven years.” The Bible teaches in 4: 17: “So shall we ever
be with the Lord.”
In the parable of the wise and foolish virgins we are taught in a most interesting way
that when the Bridegroom comes the door is shut to the unprepared while the righteous are
enjoying the marriage supper. That is exactly the lesson in John 5:28-29. Yes, when Jesus
comes again all that are in the grave shall come forth at that same time. It will be a moment
of reward for the righteous and remorse for the wicked. No seven-year period will separate
the judgment and certainly not a 1,000-year period. Premillennialism, with its attendant
errors, the rapture and the tribulation, just cannot abide the searchlight of Bible teaching.
Praise God for the simplicity of Truth (John 8:32).
2 Thessalonians, chapter one, boldly ruins the concept that when the Lord returns He
will give sinners another chance to obey. Contrariwise, verses 7-9 inform us that the ungodly
will then be punished! May we strive to so live that when the Master does come we will have
cause for no serious regret and that heaven can be our home. This has ever been the hope of
Christians (Philippians 1:23; 3:20).
“Premillennialism True or False?” Johnny Ramsey: The Rapture and Tribulation. Pages 184-
190.
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Error
ERROR
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THE RAPTURE
The Rapture is a glorious event which God has promised to the Church. The promise
is that someday very soon, at the blowing of a trumpet and the shout of an archangel, Jesus
will appear in the sky and take up His Church, living and dead, to Heaven.
The Term
The term “Rapture” comes from a Latin word, “rapio,” that means “to catch up, to
snatch away, or to take out.” It is, in turn, a translation of the Greek word, “harpazo.”
So, “Rapture” is a Biblical word that comes right out of the Latin Vulgate translation
of the Bible. The word is found in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. In the New American Standard
Version, the English phrase, “caught up,” is used. The same phrase is used in the King James
and New International Versions.
A Promise to the Church
The concept of the Rapture was not revealed to the Old Testament prophets because
it is a promise to the New Testament Church and not to the saints of God who lived before
the establishment of the Church. Jesus will return as a bridegroom for His bride, and that
bride consists only of Church Age saints.
The saints of Old Testament times will be resurrected at the end of the Tribulation
and not at the time of the Rapture of the Church. Daniel reveals this fact in Daniel 12:1-2
where he says that the saints of that age will be resurrected at the end of the “time of distress.”
Biblical References
The first clear mention of the Rapture in Scripture is found in the words of Jesus
recorded in John 14:1-4. Jesus said, “I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where
I am, there you may be also.”
The most detailed revelation of the actual events related to the Rapture is given by
Paul in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. He says that when Jesus appears, the dead in Christ (Church
Age saints) will be resurrected and caught up first. Then, those of us who are alive in Christ
will be translated “to meet the Lord in the air.”
Paul mentions the Rapture again in 1 Corinthians 15 — his famous chapter on the
resurrection of the dead: “Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall be
changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (verses 51-52).
Paul’s reference here to being changed is an allusion to the fact that the saints will
receive glorified bodies that will be imperishable, immortal, and perfected (1 Corinthians
15:42-44, 50-55 and Isaiah 35:5-6).
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A Summary
To summarize, these passages teach that the shout of an archangel and the blowing of
a trumpet will herald the sudden appearance of Jesus in the heavens (1 Thessalonians 4:16).
The dead in Christ will be resurrected and rise up to meet the Lord in the sky. Then, those
saints who are alive will be “caught up” to the Lord. Paul concludes his description in 1
Thessalonians 4 by encouraging his readers to “comfort one another with these words.”
And truly the Rapture is a comforting thought! Consider the promises contained in
the concept of the Rapture. Jesus will bring with Him the spirits of those who have died in
Him (1 Thessalonians 4:14). He will resurrect their bodies in a great miracle of re-creation;
He will reunite their bodies with their spirits; and He will then glorify their bodies, making
them immortal. And those believers who are living will not even taste death. Rather, they
will be caught up to the Lord, and in transit, they will be translated from mortal to immortal.
All my life I have heard that there are two things no one can avoid: taxes and death.
Well, that is not true. According to 1 Thessalonians 4, a whole generation of believers will
escape death. Taxes appear to be the only inevitability!
The Timing
The most controversial aspect of the Rapture is its timing. Some place it at the end of
the Tribulation, making it one and the same event as the Second Coming. Others place it in
the middle of the Tribulation. Still others believe that it will occur at the beginning of the
Tribulation.
The reason for these differing viewpoints is that the exact time of the Rapture is not
precisely revealed in scripture. It is only inferred. There is, therefore, room for honest
differences of opinion, and lines of fellowship should certainly not be drawn over differences
regarding this point, even though it is an important point.
Post-Tribulation Rapture
Those who place the timing at the end of the Tribulation usually base their argument
on two parables in Matthew 13 and on the Lord’s Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24.
In Matthew 24 the Lord portrays His gathering of the saints as an event that will take
place “immediately after the tribulation of those days” (Matthew 24:29). This certainly
sounds like a post-Tribulation Rapture. But it must be kept in mind that the book of Matthew
was written to the Jews, and therefore the recording of Jesus’ speech by Matthew has a
distinctively Jewish flavor to it as compared to Luke’s record of the same speech.
Note, for example, Matthew’s references to Judea and to Jewish law regarding travel
on the Sabbath (Matthew 24:15-20). These are omitted in Luke’s account. Instead, Luke
speaks of the saints looking up for deliverance “to escape all these things” when the end time
signs “begin to take place” (Luke 21:28, 36). The saints in Matthew are instructed to flee
from Judea and hide. The saints in Luke are told to look up for deliverance.
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It appears, therefore, that Matthew and Luke are speaking of two different sets of
saints. The saints in Matthew’s account are most likely Jews who receive Jesus as their
Messiah during the Tribulation. The saints in Luke are those who receive Christ before the
Tribulation begins. Most of those who accept the Lord during the Tribulation will be
martyred (Revelation 7:9-14). Those who live to the end will be gathered by the angels of
the Lord (Matthew 24:31).
The parable of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13:24-30) and the parable of the dragnet
(Matthew 13:47-50) can be explained in the same way. They refer to a separation of saints
and sinners that will take place at the end of the Tribulation. The saints are those who receive
Jesus as their Savior during the Tribulation (Gentile and Jew) and who live to the end of that
awful period.
The Bible clearly teaches that the Rapture is an event that is separate and apart from
the Second Coming. The two simply cannot be combined into one event.
Mid-Tribulation Rapture
There are variations of the mid-Tribulation Rapture concept. The most common is
that the Church will be taken out in the exact middle of the Tribulation, at the point in time
when the Antichrist is revealed.
This concept is based upon a statement in 1 Corinthians 15:52 which says that the
Rapture will occur at the blowing of “the last trumpet.” This trumpet is then identified with
the seventh trumpet of the trumpet judgments in the book of Revelation. Since the blowing
of the seventh trumpet is recorded in Revelation 11, the mid-point of the Tribulation, the
conclusion is that the Rapture must occur in the middle of the Tribulation.
But there are two problems with this interpretation. The first is that the last trumpet
of 1 Corinthians 15 is blown for believers whereas the seven trumpets of Revelation 8, 9 and
11 are sounded for unbelievers. The Revelation trumpets have no relevance for the Church.
The last trumpet of 1 Corinthians 15 is a trumpet for the righteous. The last trumpet for the
unrighteous is the one described in Revelation 11.
Another problem with this interpretation is that the passage in Revelation 11 that
portrays the sounding of the seventh trumpet is a “flash forward” to the end of the Tribulation.
Flash forwards are very common in the book of Revelation. They occur after something
terrible is described in order to assure the reader that everything is going to turn out all right
when Jesus returns at the end of the Tribulation.
Thus, the eighth and ninth chapters of Revelation, which describe the horrors of the
trumpet judgments, are followed immediately by a flash forward in chapter 10 that pictures
the return of Jesus in victory at the end of the Tribulation. The mid-Tribulation action
resumes in chapter 11 with a description of the killing of the two great prophets of God by
the Antichrist. Then, to offset that terrible event, we are presented with another flash forward,
beginning with verse 15. The seventh trumpet is sounded and we find ourselves propelled
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forward to the end of the Tribulation when “the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom
of our Lord.”
The point is that the seventh trumpet of Revelation relates to the end of the Tribulation
and not the middle. It is the same trumpet that is referred to in Matthew 24:31, the trumpet
that will be blown to announce the Second Coming of Jesus. It is therefore no basis for an
argument in behalf of a mid-Tribulation Rapture.
Pre-Wrath Rapture
A variation of the mid-Tribulation Rapture is the pre-wrath Rapture concept that
places the Rapture at some point in the last quarter of the Tribulation, about five and a half
years into the Tribulation.
The argument for this view is that the Church is promised protection only from the
wrath of God and not the wrath of Man or of Satan. It is then argued that only the Trumpet
and Bowl Judgments constitute the wrath of God, and these are placed in the last quarter of
the Tribulation, despite the fact that the book of Revelation clearly places the Trumpet
Judgments in the first half of the Tribulation. They maintain that the Seal Judgments are the
wrath of Man and Satan.
This view disintegrates when you consider the fact that it is Jesus Himself who breaks
the seals that launch each of the Seal Judgments recorded in Revelation 6. These judgments
occur at the beginning of the Tribulation, and they are referred to as “the wrath of the Lamb”
(Revelation 6:16).
All the judgments of Revelation are clearly superintended by God. That is the reason
we are told in Revelation 15:1 that the Bowl Judgments at the end of the Tribulation will
finish the wrath of God, not begin His wrath.
The Pre-Tribulation Rapture
I believe the best inference of Scripture is that the Rapture will occur at the beginning
of the Tribulation. The most important reason I believe this has to do with the issue of
imminence.
Over and over in Scripture we are told to watch for the appearing of the Lord. We are
told “to be ready” (Matthew 24:44), “to be on the alert” (Matthew 24:42), “to be dressed in
readiness” (Luke 12:35), and to “keep your lamps alight” (Luke 12:35). The clear force of
these persistent warnings is that Jesus can appear at any moment.
Only the pre-Tribulation concept of the Rapture allows for the imminence of the
Lord’s appearing for His Church. When the Rapture is placed at any other point in time, the
imminence of the Lord’s appearing is destroyed because other prophetic events must happen
first.
For example, if the Rapture is going to occur in mid-Tribulation, then why should I
live looking for the Lord’s appearing at any moment? I would be looking instead for an Israeli
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peace treaty, the rebuilding of the Temple, and the revelation of the Antichrist. Then and only
then could the Lord appear.
Focus
This raises the issue of what we are to be looking for. Nowhere are believers told to
watch for the appearance of the Antichrist. On the contrary, we are told to watch for Jesus
Christ. In Titus 2:13 Paul says we are to live “looking for the blessed hope and the appearing
of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus.” Likewise, Peter urges us to “fix our
hope completely on the grace to be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter
1:13). John completes the apostolic chorus by similarly urging us to “fix our hope on Him”
at His appearing (1 John 3:2-3).
Only Matthew speaks of watching for the Antichrist (Matthew 24:15), but he is
speaking to the Jews living in Israel in the middle of the Tribulation when the Antichrist
desecrates the rebuilt Temple.
Wrath
Another argument in behalf of a pre-Tribulation Rapture has to do with the promises
of God to protect the Church from His wrath. As has already been demonstrated, the book of
Revelation shows that the wrath of God will be poured out during the entire period of the
Tribulation.
The Word promises over and over that the Church will be delivered from God’s wrath.
Romans 5:9 says that “we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him [Jesus].” 1
Thessalonians 1:10 states that we are waiting “for His Son from heaven… who will deliver
us from the wrath to come.” The promise is repeated in 1 Thessalonians 5:9 — “God has not
destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Deliverance
Some argue that God could supernaturally protect the Church during the Tribulation.
Yes, He could. In fact, He promises to do just that for the 144,000 Jews who will be sealed
as bond-servants at the beginning of the Tribulation (Revelation 7:1-8).
But God’s promise to the Church during the Tribulation is not one of protection but
one of deliverance. Jesus said we would “escape” the horrors of the Tribulation (Luke 21:3-
6). Paul says Jesus is coming to “deliver” us from God’s wrath (1 Thessalonians 1:10).
Symbolism
There are several prophetic types that seem to affirm the concept of deliverance from
Tribulation.
Take Enoch for example. He was a prophet to the Gentiles who was raptured out of
the world before God poured out His wrath in the great flood of Noah’s time. Enoch appears
to be a type of the Gentile Church that will be taken out of the world before God pours out
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His wrath again. If so, then Noah and his family are a type of the Jewish remnant that will be
protected through the Tribulation.
Another Old Testament symbolic type which points toward a pre-Tribulation Rapture
is the experience of Lot and his family. They were delivered out of Sodom and Gomorrah
before those cities were destroyed.
The Apostle Peter alludes to both of these examples in his second epistle. He states
that if God spared Noah and Lot, then He surely “knows how to rescue the godly from trial
and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:4-9).
Another beautiful prophetic type is to be found in the Jewish wedding traditions of
Jesus’ time. After the betrothal, the groom would return to his father’s house to prepare a
wedding chamber for his bride. He would return for his bride at an unexpected moment, so
the bride had to be ready constantly. When he returned, he would take his bride back to his
father’s house to the chamber he had prepared. He and his bride would then be sealed in the
chamber for seven days. When they emerged, a great wedding feast would be celebrated.
Likewise, Jesus has returned to Heaven to prepare a place for His bride, the Church.
When He returns for His bride, He will take her to His Father’s heavenly home. There He
will remain with His bride for seven years (the duration of the Tribulation). The period will
end with “the marriage supper of the Lamb” described in Revelation 19. Thus the seven days
in the wedding chamber point prophetically to the seven years that Jesus and His bride will
remain in Heaven during the Tribulation.
Revelation
Speaking of Revelation, the structure of that book also implies a pre-Tribulation
Rapture in a symbolic sense.
The first three chapters focus on the Church. Chapter 4 begins with the door of
Heaven opening and John being raptured from the Isle of Patmos to the throne of God in
Heaven. The Church is not mentioned thereafter until Revelation 19:7-9 when it is portrayed
as the “bride of Christ” in Heaven with Jesus celebrating the “marriage supper of the Lamb.”
At Revelation 19:11 the door of Heaven opens again, and Jesus emerges riding a white horse
on His way to earth, followed by His Church (Revelation 19:14).
The rapture of the Apostle John in Revelation 4 appears to be a symbolic type of the
Rapture of the Church. Note that it is initiated by the cry of a voice that sounds like the
blowing of a trumpet (Revelation 4:1). Since the Tribulation does not begin until Revelation
6, the rapture of John in Revelation 4 appears to be a symbolic type that points to a pre-
Tribulation Rapture of the Church.
Some counter this argument by pointing out that although the Church is not
mentioned in Revelation during that book’s description of the Tribulation, there is constant
mention of “saints” (for example, Revelation 13:7). But that term is not used in the Bible
exclusively to refer to members of the Church. Daniel uses it to refer to Old Testament
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believers who lived long before the Church was established (Daniel 7:18). The saints referred
to in the book of Revelation are most likely those people who will be saved during the
Tribulation, after the Church has been taken out of the world.
Paul’s Assurance
An interesting argument in behalf of the pre-Tribulation timing of the Rapture can be
found in 2 Thessalonians. The church at Thessalonica was in a turmoil because someone had
written them a letter under Paul’s name stating that they had missed the “gathering to the
Lord” and were, in fact, living in “the day of the Lord” (2 Thessalonians 2:1-2).
Paul attempted to calm them down by reminding them of his teaching that the day of
the Lord would not come until after the Antichrist is revealed. He then stated that the
Antichrist would not be revealed until a restraining force “is taken out of the way” (2
Thessalonians 2:3-7).
There has been much speculation as to the identity of this restraining force that Paul
refers to. Some have identified it as the Holy Spirit. But it cannot be the Holy Spirit because
there will be people saved during the Tribulation, and no one can be saved apart from the
testimony of the Spirit (John 16:8-11 & 1 John 5:7).
Others have identified the restrainer as human government. It is true that government
was ordained by God to restrain evil (Romans 13:1-4). But the governments of the world are
in rebellion against God and His Son (Psalm 2), and they are therefore a contributor to the
evil that characterizes the world. Furthermore, the Tribulation will not be characterized by a
lack of government. Rather, it will feature the first true worldwide government (Revelation
13:7).
In my opinion that leaves only one other candidate for Paul’s restrainer — and that is
the Church. It is the Church that serves as the primary restrainer of evil in the world today as
it proclaims the Gospel and stands for righteousness. When the Church fails in this mission,
evil multiplies, as Paul graphically points out in 2 Timothy 3:1-5. Paul says that society in
the end times will be characterized by chaos and despair because “men will hold to a form of
religion but will deny its power.” When the Church is removed from the world, all hell will
literally break loose.
Escapism?
The pre-Tribulation concept of the Rapture has often been condemned as “escapism.”
I think this criticism is unjustified. The Bible itself says that Christians are to “comfort one
another” with the thought of the Rapture (1 Thessalonians 4:18). Is it a comfort to think of
the Rapture occurring at the end of the world’s worst period of war instead of at the
beginning?
Regardless of when the Rapture actually occurs, we need to keep in mind that the
Bible teaches that societal conditions are going to grow increasingly worse the closer we get
to the Lord’s return. That means Christians will suffer tribulation whether or not they go into
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the Great Tribulation. And that means all of us had better be preparing ourselves for
unprecedented suffering and spiritual warfare.
If you are a Christian, you can do that on a daily basis by putting on “the full armor
of God” (Ephesians 6:13), praying at all times in the Spirit that you will be able to stand firm
against the attacks of Satan (Ephesians 6:14-18).
If you are not a Christian, your only hope is to reach out in faith and receive the free
gift of God’s salvation which He has provided through His Son, Jesus (John 3:16).
Source: http://christinprophecy.org/articles/the-rapture/
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THE NATURE AND PURPOSE OF TRIBULATION
The unparalleled horror of the Tribulation is spelled out in detail in both the Hebrew
Scriptures and the New Testament. Isaiah wrote that it will be a day of “the terror of the
Lord” when “the pride of men will be abased” (Isaiah 2:10,17,19). Zephaniah proclaimed
that it will be a “day of wrath,” “a day of trouble and distress,” and “a day of destruction and
desolation” (Zephaniah 1:15). Men will stumble around like they are blind and “their blood
will be poured out like dust” (Zephaniah 1:17).
This dreary picture is echoed in the New Testament. Jesus said it will be a time of
tribulation “such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever
shall” (Matthew 24:21). In fact, Jesus said it will be so terrible that if it were not stopped at
the end of seven years, it would result in the destruction of all life (Matthew 24:22). The
Apostle John states that the chaos will be so great that the leaders of the world will crawl into
caves and cry out for the rocks of the mountains to fall upon them (Revelation 6:15-16).
The Purpose
What’s it all about? Why is there going to be such carnage? How could a God of
grace, mercy and love allow such an outbreak of unbridled terror and bloodshed?
One reason is to satisfy the justice of God. Yes, God is characterized by grace, mercy
and love, but He is also a God of perfect justice, righteousness, and holiness. Therefore, He
must deal with sin. His justice demands it. Even His love compels it. How could a God of
true love simply overlook the actions of a murderer or a pedophile?
The prophet Nahum understood the true nature of God. He wrote that “The Lord is
good, a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him”
(Nahum 1:7). That is the love and mercy of God. But the same prophet wrote (Nahum 1:2-
3):
A jealous and avenging God is the Lord;
The Lord is avenging and wrathful.
The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries,
And He reserves wrath for His enemies.
The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
Truly, the Lord is “slow to anger.” He allows the iniquities of Mankind to accumulate
over long periods of time because He does not wish that any should perish (2 Peter 3:9). His
desire, instead, is that all should come to repentance. But there is always a day of reckoning,
just as there was in the days of Noah, and such a day has been set for this age. Paul referred
to it in his sermon in Athens when he said, “He [God] has fixed a day in which He will judge
the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31).
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A second reason for the Tribulation is to bring people to salvation. Amazingly, even
when God pours out His wrath, His fundamental purpose is not to destroy but to save. Isaiah
26:9 explains it this way: “When the earth experiences Your judgments, the inhabitants of
the world learn righteousness.”
The brutal fact is that God often has to hit us over the head with a two-by-four in
order to get our attention and motivate us to repentance. The equally brutal fact is that most
people respond to such discipline by either cursing God or continuing to ignore Him
(Revelation 9:20-21). But some people always respond in humility and are saved. As Billy
Graham has put it: “The same sun that melts the butter, hardens the clay.”
When God’s wrath is poured out during the Tribulation, some hearts will be melted,
but most will be hardened, illustrating once again that nothing is as “deceitful” and
“desperately sick” as the heart of Man (Jeremiah 17:9).
Man is frivolous about sin. God is serious. The Tribulation will be a graphic
expression of how serious God is about Mankind’s rebellion against Him.
Source: http://christinprophecy.org/articles/the-nature-and-purpose-of-the-tribulation/
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4 THINGS EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD KNOW ABOUT THE RAPTURE
(Dr. David Jeremiah)
The study of the End Times and the rapture can cause questions, apprehension, and
fear. "Why do I need to study prophecy?" "It is too complicated, and I don't understand what
it means." "It makes me anxious and nervous." I will not argue with the fact that studying
prophecy can be complex and overwhelming. It is difficult to see how these obscure passages
can have any significance for us today.
They appear to lack relevance to what we are going through right now. If we continue
with this mindset, we will miss the rich truth God has provided for us. We cannot understand
where we are now if we don’t understand where we are going.
To help you begin developing an understanding and appreciation for this difficult
topic, I have compiled biblical answers to four of the most frequently asked questions about
the Rapture.
1. What signs indicate that the End Times are near?
The Rapture—the raising of the Church into heaven (1 Thessalonians 4:17)—is the next
event on the prophetic calendar. The following signs indicate that the End Times are near.
The Sign of Deception
Many people will claim to be the Messiah and claim to have the answers for a troubled
world. Jesus says to “take heed”—literally to keep our eyes open so we are not fooled. In the
End Times, people will be crying desperately for leaders to deliver them, and they will seek
mystics and religious leaders who claim to have deeper knowledge.
The Sign of Disputes Among Nations
As wars and dissension among groups of people begin to escalate, we know it is a sign of
Christ’s return. The book of Revelation tells us that the Tribulation Period is filled with war—
ceaseless, unending, terrible war—that will escalate until the world is involved. The Bible
says that as we move toward the End Times, there will be constant talk of conflicts, border
skirmishes, race wars, and national battles.
The Sign of Devastation
Today, as you read this, millions of people in the world are going hungry, even though
God has blessed us with a fruitful, abundant planet. As we get closer to the End Times, there
will be more and more famine. There will also be earthquakes, something that science has
said will happen. Christ also spoke of pestilence: the spread of new diseases. Our world is
experiencing a spate of tragic new diseases that we are unable to control.
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The Sign of Deliverance into the Tribulation
Just before Jesus returns, there will be an explosion of antagonism toward God’s
people. Christians will be persecuted. We are seeing this happen today with the rise of ISIS
and their horrific attacks on Christians in the Middle East. As we grow closer to the end,
many will pay a high price for living out their faith in our world.
2. Why should I avoid determining a date and time for the Rapture?
The fact is, we cannot calculate the day Christ will return for His Church because God
specifically chose not to reveal it to us.
When the apostles asked Jesus about the apocalyptic time, He replied gently but firmly, "It
is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. But
you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you" (Acts 1:7-8).
Only God knows what time it is, and only God knows when time will run out.
Future truth impacts present responsibility. It is the knowledge that His coming is
soon that puts a little bit of urgency into our step and determination into our service.
3. Will I be a part of the Rapture if my body is cremated?
When the Scripture says, "The dead in Christ will rise," it is speaking of the bodily
resurrection of believers. At this time, the spirits of believers will be united with their perfect
and complete resurrection bodies. "For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ
will rise first [no exceptions!]. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together
with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus, we shall always be with the
Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words" (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18).
If God can do the hard part of calling creation into existence through His spoken
words, then it will be no problem for Him to call back the bodies of those who have been
swept into the sea, or consumed by fire, or tragically maimed and murdered by vicious and
murderous attacks of an enemy.
4. What will happen in Heaven after the Rapture?
After the Rapture, Christians will come before the Judgment Seat of Christ (2
Corinthians 5:10). The Judgment Seat is not about whether we will enter heaven—we’ll
already be there because our sins have been atoned for in the substitutionary death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ. It will, however, be a time to give an account of the works we
have done on earth, and we will be rewarded accordingly. We’ll be assigned places of
authority in the coming Millennium based upon our faithfulness to God when we were on
earth, as well as the influence we left behind.
There is so much relevant truth to be discovered in the Bible's prophetic passages! I
encourage you to continue to study God's plan for the future. What you believe about many
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of these issues can determine what side you are on when God decides to draw the final curtain
on the drama of history. I am confident you will find, as I have, that studying and
understanding rapture and the events of tomorrow will change your view of today!
Source: http://www.crosswalk.com/faith/spiritual-life/4-things-every-christian-should-
know-about-the-rapture.html
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The Antichrist
THE
ANTICHRIST
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. Doctrine that teaches that in the end times/last hour, a man will arise to oppose Christ
and His followers more than anyone else in history.
2. The same will claim to be the true Messiah, will seek world domination and will
attempt to destroy all followers of Jesus Christ and the nation of Israel.
Doctrine Defeated.
1. John is the only writer of the New Testament who uses the term “antichrist,” and he
uses the term just five times (1 John 2:18, twice; 2:22; 4:3; 2 John 7).
2. There really is no big mystery as to what the word means: “antichrist” is anyone who
opposes Christ.
3. John said there were “many antichrists” that were “already . . . in the world,” this
has led others to conclude that the “antichrist” is an attitude reflected in both
individuals and systems (1 John 2:18; 2 John 7).
4. John certainly applied the term that way to the Gnostics of his day (2 John 7).
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True
TRUE
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THE ANTICHRIST
(Carroll B. Ellis)
As we approach the year 2000, a discussion of is especially timely. The dawning

millennium is already stirring up speculation about the end of the world. A special 1992 issue
of Time magazine entitled “Beyond the Year 2000: What to Expect in the New Millennium”
asserts that fifty-three percent of adult Americans expect the imminent return of Jesus Christ,
accompanied by the fulfillment of Biblical prophecies concerning the cataclysmic destruction
of all that is wicked.
Hal Lindsey’s, The Late Great Planet Earth, has sold over nineteen million copies
since its release in 1970. Lindsey, who warns that the “prophetic countdown” has already
begun and that we are now in “the era of,” has struck a responsive chord in American thought.
He and his readers share a common theological vocabulary which makes it possible to see
the “signs of the times”—a continuous gathering of antichrist forces.
Over the last two hundred years in America the antichrist has been repeatedly
identified with such “threats” as modernism, the pope, Jews, socialism, and the Soviet Union.
“Today,” according to Robert C. Fuller in his 1995 book, Naming the Antichrist,
fundamentalist Christian writers see the Antichrist in such enemies as the Muslim
world, feminism, rock music, and secular humanism. The threat of the antichrist’s
imminent takeover of the world economy has been traced to the formation of the
European economic community, the Susan B. Anthony dollar, the fiber optics used
in our television sets, and the introduction of the universal product codes... Many see
these as guerrilla tactics employed by Satan in his never--ending tactics against the
people of God.
THE BIBLE MUST BE HEARD
It is not what popular culture believes, but what the Bible teaches that is ultimately
vital. The word “antichrist” is found in the following passages of Scripture: “Little children,
it is the last time; and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many
antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time” (1 Jn. 1:18). [All scripture references
are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted.] “Who is a liar but he that denieth
that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son” (1 Jn. 1:22).
“And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and
this is the spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now
already is it in the world” (1 Jn. 4:3). “For many deceivers are entered into the world, who
confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist” (2 Jn.
7).
In I John 1:18, John uses the phrase “the last time” which literally means “the last
hour.” If one says that we are not living in the last days because John wrote this two thousand
years ago. Is there a conflict? Did John make a mistake? He did not. The Old Testament is
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preparing for the coming of Christ, and the New Testament is preparing for the second
coming of Christ. The days leading up to the cross are the former days, and the days after the
day of Pentecost are the last days. Since every generation is to be looking for the coming of
Christ, and since the Bible has taught he could come back at any moment, all Christians are
to be looking for Jesus to come at any time. All Christians since the ascension of Jesus Christ
are living in the last times.
WHAT TIME IS IT?
There is a story about an old farmer who had a grandfather clock sitting in the hallway
of his house. He wound the clock one night before going to bed. At midnight, the clock began
to chime. He was awakened and heard it go “bong, bong, bong” eleven times. When it got to
twelve, “bong,” thirteen---“bong,” fourteen--“bong,” and fifteen--“bong,” he did not know
what was happening. He turned and shook his wife and said, “Ole woman wake up!” She
rubbed her eyes and said, “What time is it?” He said, “I do not know, but it is later than it
has ever been before!” The Bible teaches antichrists have already come, and more will come
as long as the world stands. The basic concept of antichrist comes from the two parts of the
word. The prefix “anti” means either “against” or “instead of.” In this designation, you have
both the motive and method of Satan. What is his motive? He is against Christ. What is his
method? He is attempting to replace Christ because the devil knows man is incurably
religious. He does not deny Christ blatantly, but subversively seeks to replace him with the
spirit of antichrist. This is the fall of the year, and people are putting antifreeze in their cars.
“Antifreeze” is “against freezing,” or “instead of freezing.”
Guy N. Woods writes,
Paul, though not using the name antichrist, tells us of the appearance of ‘the man of
sin,’ and ‘the son of perdition,’ and warns of impending apostasy because of his
activities (2 Thes. 2:3, 4). Among the characteristics of the man of sin set out by Paul
were these: (1) he does not hesitate to oppose his will to the will of God; (2) he exalts
himself against God; (3) he sits in the temple of God; and (4) he sets himself forth as
God. Moreover, (a) he is the personification of sin; (b) the son of perdition; (c) a
participant in deceptive signs and lying wonders, and (d) his intent is to deceive, if
possible, the people of God. A careful examination of the description given by these
inspired writers leads to the conclusion that the anti-Christ and the man of sin are
identical.
DIFFERENT VIEW POINTS
Perhaps the earliest, and for a long time the most popular, explanation of the antichrist
or man of sin identified him with some of the earlier Roman emperors, especially Caligula
and Nero.
The second most popular explanation of the antichrist after the Protestant
Reformation was the papacy. Beginning with Wycliff and Huss, the belief that the pope was
the antichrist had much to do with the strenuous opposition of the reformers to Roman
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Catholicism. Martin Luther believed the pope was the antichrist. The earlier editions of the
Westminster Confession of Faith, the Presbyterian creed, declared the pope of Rome to be
“the antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition that exalted himself in the church against
Christ and all that is called God.”
In his debate with Archbishop John the Baptist, Purcell Alexander Campbell affirmed
the prevailing Protestant conception of the pope as “the man of sin.” The famous Presbyterian
preacher Lyman Beecher, the father of Henry Ward and Harriet Beecher Stowe, was
Campbell’s moderator.
Many of the mainline Protestant denominations gave up believing in the supernatural
nature of the Bible. They turned to rationalism, secularism, and humanism instead, and
therefore have no interest in the return of Christ. Dispensationalism which is currently the
most popular form of premillennialism, has had much to say about the antichrist. They have
published many books, and have even produced movies, detailing how a fierce individual
identified in the Bible as the “antichrist” is soon o make his dreadful presence universally
felt by launching a reign of terror and suffering.
Premillennialism was introduced into the churches of Christ by R. H. Boll, who at
one time was the front-page editor of the Gospel Advocate. Because he left “the faith once
delivered to the saints,” he was relieved of his duties and became the leading man of his day
in preaching premillennialism.
When I was a young preacher in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, R. H. Boll was holding a
meeting in Amite, Louisiana. I thought then that he was an old man. He was probably not as
old as I am now. But I remember him well as he said, “They call me a premillennialist, and
I am.” I distinctly remember him quoting from Time magazine about some event which, he
said, was a fulfillment of a passage in the book of Revelation.
According to Earl West, in The Search for the Ancient Order, Boll taught that “Jesus
came to set up his kingdom only to be rejected by the Jews. To meet this objection, Jesus
established the church which was only one state of a wider manifestation of the kingdom to
be realized at the second coming of Christ. Christ therefore was not on David’s throne, now,
but would be at his return” (398).
ANSWER TO PREMILLENNIALISM
In January 1935, W. L. Oliphant debated with John R. Rice in Dallas, Texas about
premillennialism. The book was published in August 1935 in Austin, Texas. Oliphant gives
three refutations of the doctrine of premillennialism (224). First, he asked the question, “Has
Christ come? Was it his right to occupy the throne of David? The angel so announced to
Mary: ‘He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the highest: and the Lord God shall
give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob
forever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end’ (Lk. 1:32, 33). Peter announced on
Pentecost that the prophecy and promise have been fulfilled, and that Christ has been raised
from the dead to sit on the throne of David” (Acts 2).
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Second, Oliphant used John 5:28, 29 to show the resurrection of the righteous and the
wicked will occur at the same hour. Third, he also pointed to John 6:39 and John 6:44 to
show the resurrection of the righteous and the judgment of the wicked will be at the last day.
AMILLENNIAL VIEW
It is the view of the writer that the amillennial perspective is the one supported by the Bible.
Amillennialism does not anticipate a restoration of Israel in order to fulfill the Old Testament
promises. These promises either have been fulfilled with regard to Israel (e.g., the land,
providing the seed through whom all nations would be blessed, etc.) have been forfeited by
Israel due to unbelief and disobedience (cf. Jer. 18:7-10), are fulfilled in the New Testament
church, or will be fulfilled in the eternal glories of the new heavens and new earth. Mal Couch
correctly states that “Those who hold this view believe that Christ will literally return, but
they do not believe in his thousand-year reign on the earth. According to the amillennial
view, the kingdom of God is present in the church age, and at the end of the church age the
second coming of Christ inaugurates the eternal state” (37).
A SPECIFIC INDIVIDUAL ANTICHRIST?
Many Christian scholars refuse to make any literal application of the “antichrist” or
of the man of sin to a specific individual. It seems John in particular is speaking about a false
system that had already started in his day and would include any and all false teachers.
In his book, Epistles of John, Roy H. Lanier, Jr. is correct when he says, this spirit, or
attitude, can be present in any age. It is a valid warning to all generations. Any who
would deprecate the deity of Jesus in any way, who would deny his miracles, his
miraculous conception, his resurrection and ascension, his advocating and interceding
continually for the saints would come under the blanket of John’s description. Close
to these would be all who would set themselves against the will and laws of the Lord
(58).
This does not rule out the possibility of a figure who could be labeled “antichrist” at
the end of the age, but recognizes that the point of John’s teaching is a vigilance for the truth
in every generation.
WHERE ARE ANTICHRISTS FOUND?
Where may we expect to find the antichrists? We could find them in the groups of
preachers, religious educators, Christian College professors, and those who are seeking to
redefine family values. In the writer’s opinion, those who would seek to deny the
undenominational nature of the church, and have fellowship with those who teach false
doctrine, must be especially marked.
Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they
are ravening wolves” (Mt. 7:15). “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world,
against spiritual wickedness in high places (Eph. 6:12).
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One who denies his country is a traitor. One who denies the Christ is an antichrist. In
each case, one’s sincerity or earnestness is not brought into judgment, but only the guilt is to
be considered. Loyalty to Christ demands error to be exposed regardless of all other things.
Heed the exhortation of Jude, “...earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered
unto the saints” (Jude 3). His reason then is ours today after nineteen hundred years, for his
language describes our enemy. “For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before
of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into
lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ” (Jude 4).
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “At His Coming” - 1998, Carroll B. Ellis: The
Antichrist. Pages 116-121.
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THE MAN OF SIN AND ANTICHRIST
(James M. Draper)
On the second missionary journey Paul, along with Silas, Timothy, and Luke, came
to Macedonia in response to the Macedonian call (Acts l6z9~10). They first went to Philippi
and established the church there (Acts 16: 12-40). Then Paul, Silas, and Timothy traveled
100 miles southwest and came to Thessalonica.
At Thessalonica Paul preached in the Jewish synagogue for 3 weeks (Acts 17:1-9),
but the success of Paul and his helpers aroused the envy and hatred of the unbelieving Jews
and strong opposition arose. The missionaries then left Thessalonica and went to Berea. But
persecuting Jews from Thessalonica came to Berea so the brethren there sent Paul away.
Timothy and Silas remained in Berea (Acts 17: 13-14), and Paul went on to Athens
and sent for them to join him as soon as possible (Acts 17:15). From [Thess. 3: 1-2 we learn
that Timothy, and possibly Silas, left Berea and joined Paul in Athens. While in Athens Paul
became deeply concerned about his new converts in Thessalonica so he decided to send
Timothy to strengthen and encourage them in their faith (1 Thess. 3:1-3).
Paul went on to Corinth from Athens (Acts 18:1), and at Corinth Timothy and Silas
rejoined Paul (Acts 18:5). Timothy brought to Paul some good news about the church at
Thessalonica (I Thess. 3:8), but Timothy’s report also made Paul aware of some problems
that required some additional teaching, especially on the second coming of Christ and related
matters. So, in the city of Corinth, Paul wrote to the church at Thessalonica, a letter known
to us as 1 Thessalonians.
“Will those who are alive at the second coming have any advantage over the dead?”
“NO,” Paul said in his letter, “We who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord,
shall not precede those who have fallen asleep” (I Thess. 4:15). Paul also wrote to them of
the sudden nature of the Lord’s coming (I Thess. 5:1-11). “The day of the Lord will come
like a thief in the night” (I Thess. 5:2).
There is no way of knowing all of the events that took place between the writing of I
and II Thessalonians. Evidently, what Paul had written in I Thessalonians about the sudden
nature of Christ’s coming had been misunderstood by some. There were those in the church
at Thessalonica who were convinced that the Lord’s coming was immediate. Paul had made
the statement in his first letter that “the Lord himself shall descend from heaven” (I Thess.
4:16), and his coming will be sudden (I Thess. 5:2), and the necessity of being prepared for
it (I Thess. 5:10-11). Apparently, this message had been misinterpreted by some as if sudden
coming meant immediate coming.
Some were saying that they had received an inspired message, a prophetic spirit, to
the effect that the day of the Lord had come. Others were saying that Paul must have meant
immediate coming, because we heard these words from his own lips when he was with us.
Still others were saying that “someone” had received a letter from Paul in which he had
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expressed these views (11 Thess. 221-2). These excited people in Thessalonica were
convinced that the day of the Lord had come (11 Thess. 2:2). A few more days, weeks, or at
the most, months, and Jesus himself would make His appearance upon the clouds of heaven.
His “day” has come.
Now Paul had taught that the day of the Lord was at hand (Rom. 13:12; Phil. 4:5; I
Thess. 5:1-11). But, he had not taught, as some were saying in Thessalonica, that the day of
the Lord was “just at hand” (11 Thess. 2:2), denoting an imminence, nothing short of the
actual appearing of the Lord in the next instant. So Paul in 11 Thess. 2:1-12 provided some
additional teaching to correct this error. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians a second time to
remind them of certain things which he had already taught (II Thess. 2:5-6). Paul had taught
that certain events must first take place before the day of the Lord comes. “Let no one deceive
you in any way; for that day will not come, unless the falling away come first, and the man
of sin is revealed the son of perdition” (II Thess. 2:3). Paul’s conclusion is that since these
two events have not taken place, the day of the Lord has not come; therefore, they should not
be deceived into believing that the day of the Lord has come.
The day of the Lord has not come. The day of the Lord is not “just at hand.” The
falling away (Gk. apostasia), the rebellion, the apostasy, the defection and departure from the
faith and opposition to it, must first take place before the day of the Lord comes. And, the
man of sin must first be revealed before the day of the Lord comes.
Then Paul goes on to describe the Man of Sin.
A Description of the Man of Sin
Matthew Henry states that Paul tells us many remarkable things about the Man of Sin:
His name, his character, his rise, his reign, his fall, and the ruin of his subjects.
Paul’s description of the Man of Sin begins in II Thess. 2:4. The Man of Sin is
antagonistic toward God and exalts himself as a rival to everything that is worshipped. He
even enters into the very temple of God and takes his seat where God alone has a right to
rest, and there makes an arrogant display of himself as an object of worship. The temple is
Paul’s favorite metaphor for the church (I Cor. 16:17; 11 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21). Paul may
only mean that the Man of Sin intrudes into the place or position which rightfully belongs to
God alone. It is possible that the phrase “proclaiming himself to be God” at the end of verse
4 is not in addition to “seating himself in the temple" but rather the explanation of it. He takes
his seat in the temple by proclaiming to be God. This may be nothing more than a figure of
speech for seeking the glory that belongs only to God.
The spirit of lawlessness was already at work in Paul’s day, and there would be a
certain mystery about it until the revealing of the Man of Sin ([1 Thess. 2:7). But someone
or something was restraining the spirit of lawlessness so as to prevent the revealing of the
Man of Lawlessness (II Thess. 2:6-7). There will come a time when the restrainer will be
taken out of the way, and then lawlessness will grow to such an extent that it will be revealed
in the Man of Lawlessness (Il Thess. 2:8).
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Part of the problem here is the fact that Paul speaks of the restraining power in both
impersonal (to Katechon-neuter accusative singular participle) and personal (ho Katchon-
masculine nomative singular participle) terms. There are at least three possibilities for this
double terminology: (1) The restraining power is both personal and impersonal (that is, there
is an impersonal restraining force led by or directed by a restraining individual); (2) the
restraining power is strictly impersonal and “he who restrains” is simply a personification of
that power; (3) the restraining power is strictly personal and the “what is restraining” of verse
6 is simply an impersonal reference to him. The text would seem to argue for the first
interpretation.
The manner of his coming is “according to the working of Satan with all power and
with pretended signs and wonders” (ll Thess. 2:9). And his willing subjects are those who
“receive not the love of the truth that they might be saved, but had pleasure in unrighteousness
so that all may be condemned" (ll Thess. 2:10-12).
The fall of the Man of Sin will occur when “The Lord Jesus slays him with the breath
of His mouth and destroys him by His appearing and His coming" (11 Thess. 2:8). Now Paul
does not say how long it will be after the revealing of the Man of Sin before Jesus comes
again to destroy him. This was not his point. Paul’s point was that the day of the Lord had
not come, because before the day of the Lord does come two events must first take place (the
rebellion and the revealing of the Man of Sin). These two events have not yet taken place;
therefore, the day of the Lord has not come. But nowhere does Paul say how long it will be
between the revealing of the Man of Sin and the second coming of Christ. Only that when
Christ comes the Man of Sin will have been revealed and will be slain with the breath of His
mouth. The Man of Sin and the Man of Righteousness both can be described as having
mystery (11 Thess. 2:6-8; II Tim. 3:16), working miracles (ll Thess. 2:9; John 5:19-20), and
having a parousia (II Thess. 2:8-9).
This is Paul’s brief description of the Man of Sin.
One reason for the difficulty in interpreting II Thess. 223-12 is that it contains
elements of apocalyptic literature. Apocalyptic literature deals mainly with the unseen or
with the future, and it usually rises out of troublesome times.
The Old Testament books of Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Joel. all of which have much
of the apocalyptic, were written after Israel had begun to suffer under the heel of foreign
domination. The only New Testament apocalyptic book, Revelation, was written during the
persecution of Domitian. There are apocalyptic passages in other New Testament books, also
connected with the dark days of God’s people. The apocalyptic discourse of Jesus in
Matthew, chapter 24, and parallels, had to do with the Roman oppression of the Jews. The
apocalyptic portion of II Thessalonians was written to a church that had felt bitter persecution
from its beginning right up to the time of this writing.
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It is impossible to compile a list of the characteristics which will apply to every
apocalyptic work. However, there are some which generally apply. A “vision” is often the
context, though this is not true with Jesus and Paul. The predictive element is characteristic,
in fact, is the main thing. Apocalyptic is characterized by symbols. These symbols represent
ideas familiar and known to those inside the movement, but not to those on the outside. The
main purpose of apocalyptic was to strengthen faith and to give courage and hope. The
writers of apocalyptic stress the virtue and loyalty and picture in vivid terms the final
overthrow of evil and the vindication of God’s cause. The present is pictured as a time of
great suffering. In contrast, the future is pictured as a glorious day, a time of deliverance and
triumph for the people of God with complete defeat of their adversaries. Evil is presented
under various symbols; the increase of evil is portrayed under various figures; and the final
victory of God over His foes is likewise presented in a variety of ways.
In the case of II Thess. 223-12, it is likely that Paul employs some apocalyptic
elements, especially symbols, without writing a truly apocalyptic passage. If this is the case,
then it may be impossible to tell what is strictly symbolic and what is to be taken literally. It
is even possible that the Man of Sin himself is an apocalyptic symbol.
A passage which seems to be parallel to II Thess. 223-12 is I John 2:18-22. John’s
“antichrist” is apparently the same as Paul’s “Man of Sin.” The Man of Sin, already at work
in Paul’s day, was certainly one of the antichrists of I John 2:18. Both are in opposition to
Christ. Both are the very antithesis of Christ. Both seek to lead astray.
At any rate, the apocalyptic element, to whatever extent it is present, adds to our
difficulty in interpreting II Thess. 2:3-12.
Paul states that before the day of the Lord comes a rebellion must first take place (II
Thess. 2:3). It is often assumed that the rebellion and the coming of the Man of Sin are two
separate events but the sense of the passage argues against this view. Rather, the rebellion
occurs when the Man of Sin is revealed. Notice that Paul mentions them together in verse 3
and then does not refer to the rebellion again by name, but rather speaks of its author and
leader.
They are not two events, but one. And this rebellion is not primarily a social, political,
or moral upheaval, but religious in nature (11 Thess. 224,9,10). It is a defection from the
truth.
Thus, recognizing the rebellion as inaugurated by and not different from the coming
of the Man of Sin, and as a primarily religious apostasy should keep us from some serious
misconceptions in our attempts to identify the Man of Sin.
SOME MAJOR INTERPRETATIONS OF THE MAN 0F SIN: Their Strengths and
Weaknesses:
This passage regarding the rebellion, the Man of Sin, and the restraining one, is one
of the most difficult in the New Testament. The purpose of the writer is clear. He wishes to
comfort and strengthen the Thessalonians in the midst of persecution by assuring them of the
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final victory of the cause of God and the ultimate defeat of those who oppose this cause. He
wishes to correct the state of unrest, and anxiety which evidently existed among some, and
to prevent its growth and spread by convincing the Thessalonians that the day of the Lord
has not come. Paul, in the midst of the discussion, reminds them of his teaching regarding
these great events while he was personally with them.
Seldom in the course of exegetical study does one encounter a passage which has
been subject to so great a variety of interpretations as [I Thess. 223-12. Our purpose now
shall be to set forth some of the major interpretations of this passage with their strengths and
weaknesses.
Many identify the Man of Sin with a historical figure, such as Napoleon, Hitler, or
Stalin. From time to time in the history of the world, men have arisen whose power and evil
influence are so great as to cause believers to see in them the very characteristics described
by Paul in II Thess. 2:3-12. The great weakness of this approach in identifying the Man of
Sin with such a historical figure is that it ignores a fact already noted, that the rebellion is
religious and not political in nature, and the Man of Sin is a false prophet and not a political
figure.
Some have identified the Man of Sin with a certain Roman emperor, or to a line of
Roman emperors. B. B. Warfield was of the opinion that the Man of Sin is to be identified
with a line of Roman emperors such as Caligula, Nero, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian.I
According to Kern and Baur the whole idea is derived from the concept of Nero redivivus
(Nero brought back to life). It was Kern who revived this old theory that the Man of Sin is
Nero redivivus.2 After Nero’s death in AD. 68 more than one man arose claiming to be the
dead emperor and aroused men’s fears. When it became accepted that Nero was indeed dead
the expectation took shape that one day he would come back in supernatural fashion. He
would return and set up an anti-Christian kingdom and continue to persecute Christians as he
once did.
There are some strengths to this interpretation of identifying the Man of Sin with a
Roman emperor or a line of Roman emperors. A strong point about this position is that it
provides an explanation as to why Paul wrote in symbolic language. Explicit reference to the
empire and to certain emperors would invite additional persecution if the letter should come
under official observation. Another strong point is that certain later emperors did make the
claim to deity and did demand worship, as does the Man of Sin ([1 Thess. 2:4). The attitudes
of the persecuting emperors such as Nero must have led many Christians to see in them some
of the attributes of the Man of Sin. Many would draw attention to the attempt by Caligula to
set up an image of himself in the temple of Jerusalem, an attempt which was frustrated only
by his death. This took place in AD. 40.
Those who hold to this interpretation would identify the restraining one as a certain
predecessor or predecessors among the emperors. When that one was taken out of the way
the Man of Sin would appear. B. B. Warheld thought the restrainer was the Jewish State. For
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the continued existence of the Jewish State was both graciously and naturally a protection to
Christianity, and hence a restraint on the persecuting power of Rome.
But, a valid objection to this position is this: Paul contemplates the Man of Sin as
being in existence and waging opposition at the time the Lord returns. The Man of Sin is to
continue in power until he is destroyed by the coming of Christ. But the Roman Empire has
long ceased to be, and Nero, Nero redivivus, or any other Roman emperor will not be in
power when the Lord comes again.
According to Schneckenburger and Weiss, Paul has in mind the person whom the
Jews will acclaim as their Messiah.3 Of course the objection here is that the “lawless one"
opposes, and exalts himself, against all that is called God or worshipped, and this no Jewish
pretender to the Messiah would do.
For centuries masses of the Protestant world have held the position that the Papacy
was the Man of Sin, the restraining power being the Roman Empire, and the “temple of God”
being the Christian church. Of the many attempts to identify the Man of Sin with a historical
figure, by far the most widespread, has been that which identifies him as the personification
of the succession of the popes in Roman Catholicism. According to this view the temple in
which the Man of Sin takes his seat in the church or church apostate. The restraining power
is the Roman Empire and the “who now restrains” is the emperor himself.
John the Faster, of Constantinople, making a boastful Claim of being the universal
bishop in 597 was called antichrist by his Roman counterpart, Gregory I.
Naturally, the idea was eagerly seized upon by many of the leaders of the
Reformation. Thus, on October 11, 1520, Martin Luther wrote that he felt much more at ease
since he had become thoroughly convinced that the pope was the antichrist. John Wycliffe
wrote a treatise concerning Christ and His adversary, the antichrist; and he defended the
proposition that the pope is the antichrist giving 12 reasons why. A statement in the preface
to our own Authorized Version in which “the most high and mighty Prince James, by the
grace of God, King of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith,” is given
credit for having by means of a tract dealt “such a blow to the Man of Sin (meaning the pope)
as will not be healed.”
The Westminster Confession of Faith is likewise very plain in its identification of the
Man of Sin:
There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ, nor can the Pope of
Rome. in any sense, be the head thereof; and is that antichrist. that Man of Sin, the
Son of perdition, that exalteth himself in the church against Christ, and all that is
called God.
Alexander Campbell met Roman Catholic Bishop John B. Purcell in debate in the
Sycamore Street meeting house, Cincinnati, Ohio, on January 13-21, 1837. Campbell
affirmed and Purcell denied proposition 3: The Roman Church is the “Babylon” of John, the
“Man of Sin” of Paul, and the “Empire of the Youngest Horn” of Daniel’s sea monster.6
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Support for this interpretation is seen in the fact that the Papacy claims for itself many
of the same divine prerogatives claimed by the Man of Sin. The Man of Sin is represented as
exalting himself above all that is called God or that is worshipped. The Papacy has one
official man at its head, and the arrogancy of its claim is centered in him.
Every Roman pontiff is an antichirst, and a rival of God when he allows pompous
titles addressed to him: dominus deus noster papa (Our Lord God the Pope), deus alter interra
(another God on earth), and idem est aluminium dei et papae (the dominion of God and the
pope is the same).7
He exalts himself against God and Christ, calling himself the vicar, or infallible
substitute of Christ. He presumes to set aside divine laws in favor of his own. Thus as a
substitute person he makes substitute laws and arrogates to himself divine power, as did Pope
Clement VI when he commanded the angels to admit certain souls to paradise. The pope
shows himself as God through claiming divine attributes, such as infallibility and holiness,
and by presuming to forgive sins.
An apostasy is predicted by Paul to accompany the revealing of the Man of Sin, and
in Romanism there is most positively a very wicked and extensive departure from the
teaching of Christ. Romanism is the very kind of apostasy that Paul describes elsewhere in I
Timothy 4:1-3 and II Timothy 321-9.
The Man of Sin is said to seat himself in “the temple of God” and the pope has seated
himself in the apostate church. He proves his supreme claims by fraudulent miracles, signs,
and wonders; cures effected by relics and shrines and pictures; prayer made effectual by
blessed beads; indulgences, souls prayed out of purgatory for money; absolution and
transubstantiation.
The Man of Sin was called by Paul “the son of perdition,” which is the word used of
the false apostle, Judas, and nowhere else in the Bible. Does not the pope claim to be an
apostle of Christ, indeed, the successor to the apostle Peter? Is he not, therefore, a false
apostle?
The mystery of lawlessness was already at work in Paul‘s day; and Paul specifically
stated to the Ephesian elders that from among them would men arise, speaking perverse
things, to draw away the disciples after them. Is not the pope himself merely an elder gone
wrong? And unlike the Roman emperors, the Papacy will apparently continue to the coming
of Christ.
Those who identify the Man of Sin with the Papacy usually consider the restraining
force to be the temporal power of the Roman Empire. Tertullian interpreted Paul’s restrainer
this way:
What obstacle is there but the Roman State? We Christians are under a particular
necessity of praying for the emperor . . . because we know that dreadful power which
hangs over the whole world . . . is retarded by the continuance of the time appointed
for the Roman Empire.
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The spiritual pride and lawlessness which worked in Paul’s day was curbed by the
presence of the Caesar whose own superior spiritual pride and lawlessness restrained that of
the church by contempt and persecution. When the power of the Roman Empire was taken
away, the pope appeared.
However, this interpretation is not without its objections. Those who oppose this
interpretation do not think that the claims of the Papacy are as blatant and unlimited as those
predicated by the Man of Sin. The pope claims to be the vicar, the substitute of Christ; and
as such only claims infallibility in certain areas, and contrary to 1 John 2:22 the pope does
confess that Jesus is the Christ. Furthermore, the idea of complete lawlessness does not seem
to agree with the operation of Romanism today.
There is the possibility that the claims of the papacy will become more pronounced
in the future with the result that they will more nearly fit the description of the Man of Sin;
however, this would be a matter of conjecture.
Some scholars hold that the Man of Sin is the devil himself. He was walking behind
the scenes, so to speak, in Paul’s day. This is what is referred to as the mystery of lawlessness.
Satan’s work will become increasingly more effective and eventually he will be clearly
manifested for what he is, and will be destroyed at the coming of Christ.
Those who hold this view usually regard the restraining power as the Holy Spirit
working through the gospel, whose work will one day be restricted so as to give Satan
freedom to work without the Spirit's hindrance. (See Schofield Reference Bible).
In favor of this view it may be still that much of Paul’s description of the Man of Sin
accords with what is known about Satan from other passages. Conceivably, there may come
a time when the Word will not have the free course, when evangelism will be restricted or
even prohibited, and the destruction of Satan will surely occur at the coming of Christ. (Rev.
20:10).
But, a weighty objection to this position is that Paul saw the coming of the lawless
one as “by the activity of Satan." If his coming and power is according to the operation of
Satan, then it is difficult to think that Paul intends to identify him with Satan. Furthermore,
while it would be easy to think of the Spirit as restraining the force of evil, it is difficult to
conceive of the Holy Spirit being “taken out of the law”
Still others hold that the Man of Sin is not an individual but a principle of lawlessness.
David Lipscomb wrote:
The Man of Sin is understood to be the principle of error or lawlessness that arose in
the church. This lawless principle is a principle among those claiming to be the Lord’s
people but are not willing to be controlled in all things by the Word of God.
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A. T. Robertson held the same view: “Hence it is not clear that Paul has in mind only
one individual or even individuals at all, rather evil principle.”
The principle of evil was at work in Paul’s day causing distress to the followers of
Christ. The full manifestation of the evil was being held in check likely by Roman law and
order. But eventually, this evil force will grow until there shall be a great apostasy or rebellion
against God culminating in the manifestation of some one (a person) or some thing (the
principle of lawlessness and evil).
in view of the nature of apocalyptic writings, it may be that Paul did not intend for us
to make a specific identification of the Man of Sin. It is possible that Paul used the Man of
Sin as a figure to portray the great conflict between good and evil, and the final outcome of
each.
In summary, contrary to what some believed and were teaching in Thessalonica, Paul
says that the day of the Lord has not come. Two great events must first take place before He
comes, the rebellion and the revealing of the Man of Sin. Since these two great events had
not yet taken place when Paul wrote to the Thessalonians, the day of the Lord has not come.
Premillennialists, along the line of our text, believe and teach the imminence of
Christ’s return. It is worthy to note that the Bible teaches now just what it has always taught
about the second coming. If it were imminent in Paul’s day, it is today. The word “imminent"
means “likely to happen without delay.” Paul did not, in II Thess. 2:13, expect the Lord to
return immediately. He states emphatically that the coming of the Lord is not “just at hand.”
Paul made it clear that these two great events, the rebellion and the revealing of the Man of
Sin, must first take time before the Lord comes again.
Paul saw the force of evil working in his day, causing great suffering for the followers
of Christ. The full manifestation was being held in check, likely by the forces of law and
order. Law and order are deterrent to lawlessness, and lawlessness is the chief characteristic
of the rebellion and the one who heads it. The attitude of disregard for law and rebellion
against God has been embodied in numerous groups and in numerous individuals.
Paul predicted a day when there would be a supreme embodiment in one who would
rebel against God and demand worship for himself, claiming that he is God. The lawless one
may be a movement, an institution, a system, or even an individual.
Whatever may be his exact identity, his doom is certain. At the coming of Christ the
son of perdition will be slain with the breath of His mouth, signifying the ease with which
the Lord will defeat the Man of Sin. The very radiance of our Lord’s coming will devastate
the son of perdition whose ultimate doom is eternal perdition. “Therefore comfort one
another with these words.” (I Thess. 4:18)
of Last Things.” James M. Draper: The Man of Sin and Antichrist. Pages 10-19.
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WHO IS THE ANTICHRIST?
(Kyle Campbell)
With a term of endearment (“little children”) that is a favorite of John’s, he warns

them about a problem that was very real in his day (1 John 2:18). John is the only writer of
the New Testament who uses the term “antichrist,” and he uses the term just five times (1
John 2:18, twice; 2:22; 4:3; 2 John 7).
The Greek word from which our English word “antichrist” is translated is very simple
to understand. We use the same compound word every day. We have people who are “anti-
smoking,” “anti-hunting,” “anti-Semitic,” or “antiabortion.” There really is no big mystery
as to what the word means: “antichrist” is anyone who opposes Christ.
It is interesting to note that in some sense the antichrist was already present, but
unfortunately John’s words have been taken to suggest that an individual “Antichrist” was
yet to appear. The term is commonly used today by Premillennialists to refer to one individual
who is supposed to appear near the end of time. Connections between the “Antichrist” and
the “man of sin” in 2 Thessalonians 2:1-11 are often made with the visions of Daniel
concerning the “king of the South” (Dan. 11:36-45) and the “beast of the sea” (Rev. 13:1-9).
Premillennialists believe that Daniel foresaw a human leader, satanically energized,
who would come to Jerusalem, enforce his will, exalt himself above all other people and
gods, and wreak havoc and slaughter. They claim he will be so convincing as an ally and
deliverer that Israel will sign a pact with him to be her protector. He will then turn against
the nation and occupy the throne in the sanctuary of the rebuilt temple, which for Israel will
still symbolize the presence of God, and blasphemously present himself to the world as if he
were God.
There have been many who have been suggested as the “Antichrist.” Chrysostom held
that he was the resurrected Nero. Some Catholics held that he would be an apostate priest or
even the Pope. Speculations about who the “Antichrist” is have included about every U.S.
President and world leader (such as Napoleon Bonaparte, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf
Hitler). Ever since the election, there have been people make the case to me that Barack
Obama is the “Antichrist”! Some have even argued that the “Antichrist” will be a demon-
possessed, super intelligent, human clone!
However, because John said there were “many antichrists” that were “already . . . in
the world,” this has led others to conclude that the “antichrist” is an attitude reflected in both
individuals and systems. John certainly applied the term that way to the Gnostics of his day
(2 John 7). As we will see, the evidence for a single adversary is simply not as strong as many
believe. It is very evident that John was more concerned about the “antichrists” that had
already come, so it will be good for us to study how can we avoid being misled by
“antichrists” today (whether it be one or many).
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Who Were the Antichrists?
There are several characteristics of “antichrists.” First, they refuse to follow apostolic
authority. In John’s day, they were individuals who had associated with the apostles and other
Christians. They had gone out on their own and were no longer in fellowship with them.
Thus, it became manifest that they were not “of us” (approved by the apostles). Later, John
describes the “spirit of antichrist” as those who do not hear the apostles (i.e., respect apostolic
authority). In our day, “antichrists” behave the same way. They may start out acting like they
respect apostolic authority and seek to be with Christians. But eventually their true nature
comes out and they will not want to be with those who respect authority very long. Those
who reject the apostles, reject Christ Himself, and are thus “antichrist” (cf. John 13:20).
Second, they deny Jesus is the Christ. Many Gnostics alleged that Jesus and Christ
were two different persons. Cerinthus, who was alive during the first century, envisioned a
“Christ spirit,” an ethereal but powerful supernatural being that descended on a man named
Jesus at His baptism and left Him just before His death. Thus the “Christ spirit” was not fully
human, but only temporarily indwelt a man through whom that spirit, before departing,
demonstrated remarkable power and wisdom. This is this denial that Jesus Christ came in the
flesh that John identifies as the “spirit of antichrist” (1 John 4:3-4).
Third, they deny the Father and the Son. By denying that Jesus is the Christ, they were
denying the Son—He who was “begotten of the Father” and who became flesh (cf. John
1:14). By denying the Son, they were in essence also denying the Father. When John wrote
his book, there were many “antichrists” in the world. This directly contradicts modern
teachers who say that one “Antichrist” will arise in the future. Today, an “antichrist” would
be one who denies Jesus to be the Messiah, or who denies the nature of Jesus (that He was
fully God and fully man).
Guarding Against The Antichrists
John’s readers were reminded of their “unction.” This “unction (anointing) from the
Holy One” enabled them to “know all things” and it enabled them “not to need that anyone
teach you.” The false teachers who threatened John’s readers employed the terms for
knowledge and anointing to describe their religious experience.
They saw themselves as possessing an elevated and mysterious form of divine
knowledge, and as the recipients of a special, secret, transcendent anointing. That led them
to believe that they had a special truth that the uneducated lacked. John’s response, which
was both a rebuttal to the “antichrists” and a reassurance to the Christians, was to assert that
they had an “unction” of the Holy Spirit.
The “anointing” is a “conveying of a supernatural blessing” (cf. Luke 4:18), referring
to the gifts of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 12:8-10): wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles,
prophecy, discerning of spirits, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. They provided
both revelation and confirmation of the truth for the early church (Mark 16:17- 20; Heb. 2:1-
4).
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These Christians could have identified the “antichrists” without John’s help. Despite
having this “anointing,” they needed to be encouraged to continue in what they had learned
from the Spirit. Having the gifts of the Spirit did not keep them from sinning or being misled
(1 John 2:26). Only by heeding what they had heard from the beginning would they continue
to abide in the Son and in the Father, and receive the promise of eternal life.
Christians today do not have the “anointing” like John’s readers. Many people today
misapply this verse to teach that we can have some direct “anointing” from God. But if we
did, then we would not need the Scriptures, and only the self-deceived would make such a
claim (1 John 2:20, 27)!
However, we have something just as good. We have the word of God, which is the
“sword of the Spirit” (Eph. 6:17). We have “the faith once delivered unto the saints” (Jude
3). We have an objective standard by which we can know the truth, and avoid being misled
by subjective feelings that can be mistaken for some sort of inner prompting of the Holy
Spirit (2 Tim. 3:16-17). But like John’s readers, we need encouragement to continue in what
we have learned from the Spirit-given word. Having the word of God does not guarantee
doctrinal safety (cf. Gal. 1:7; 2 Cor. 11:4). Unless we study and apply the word, we are open
to deceptions by modern-day “antichrists”! Therefore, “antichrists” can still be a very real
problem for us. While there may not be many professing Christians who deny that Jesus is
the Christ, or that He came in the flesh, there are many who reject the authority of the apostles
by rejecting the scriptures!
Are you an “antichrist”? Do you actively teach or simply believe that Jesus Christ
never walked the earth, but was a mythological figure? Do you actively teach or simply
believe there was a man named Jesus Christ, but He did not actually rise from the dead? Do
you actively speak out against or simply believe that the gospel is a false religion? Are you
an atheist or agnostic who is indifferent and non-religious? Then you too are an “antichrist”!
The “antichrist” does not have horns or red, glowing eyes. Neither is the “antichrist”
some demon-possessed, super intelligent human clone. He is also not necessarily a political
candidate, unless that candidate denies that Jesus is the Christ. Rather, the “antichrist” is that
sweet, elderly lady living next door who openly teaches the neighborhood kids that Jesus was
just a myth. We must “continue in the Son, and in the Father” (1 John 2:24). Remember, we
are living in the last hour, and Christ may come at any time and judge us for our unbelief!
251 Hunters Glen Drive, Lufkin, TX 75904.
kylec@consolidated.net
Source: Ed. Mike Willis. Truth Magazine: Vol LIII. Number 4. April 2009. Mike Campbell:
Who is the Antichrist? Pages 28-29.
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WILL THERE BE AN "ANTICHRIST"?
(Dave Miller)
The long history of failed attempts to identify the so-called “Antichrist” would be
humorous if it were not so tragic. Candidates for this personage have included Nero,
Napoleon, Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin, Kruschev, and Saddam Hussein. The “mark of the beast”
that the Antichrist allegedly causes people to receive has been associated with social security
numbers, UPC barcodes, WWW—the World Wide Web, and even the IRS (a much more
tempting postulation, to be sure). These endless shenanigans could be avoided if the Bible
were taken seriously and impure motives were replaced by an honest pursuit of truth.
As a matter of fact, the term “antichrist” occurs only five times in Scripture, only in
the writing of John, and only in two of his five books: 1 John 2:18,22; 4:3; 2 John 7. The
implications are significant. Dispensationalists do not go to 1 and 2 John when they discuss
the Antichrist. They go to Revelation, or 2 Thessalonians, or Daniel. They go to passages
that do not even use the word Antichrist!
Contrary to current claims, John applied the term “antichrist” to more than one
individual, and to individuals who were living then—in the first century! For example, 1 John
2:18 states that numerous antichrists had arisen in John’s day, and he therefore contended
that “it is the last hour” (i.e., the final period of religious history commonly referred to as
“the last days,” as in Acts 2:16-17). He then described their behavior as “not of God” (1 John
4:3). “Antichrists” were simply anyone who denied Christ (1 John 2:22). John, therefore,
labeled any such deluded soul as “the deceiver” and “the antichrist” (2 John 7). Notice the
use of the article. John was saying that people living in his own day who denied the
incarnation of Jesus were to be regarded as the antichrist! Not just an antichrist—but the
antichrist! The idea that the term “antichrist” is to be applied to some “future fuehrer”
(Lindsey, 1970, pp. 87ff.) who will draw the world into a global holocaust is totally out of
harmony with John’s inspired use of the term.
The primary passage that is used to support the notion of an antichrist is Revelation
13:1-10. Several points regarding the context of the book of Revelation and its proper
interpretation lead to the understanding that the seven-headed sea beast was a symbol for the
then monstrous emperor of Rome who was responsible for unleashing horrible atrocities
upon Christians of Asia Minor in the latter years of the first century A.D. (Summers, 1951,
pp. 174-175; Swete, 1911, pp. 161ff.). The two-horned land beast (Revelation 13:11-18),
who enforced worship of the sea beast, referred to the official governmental organization
known as the Roman Concilia that was responsible for supporting and regulating all details
relative to emperor worship (Summers, pp. 178-179; Swete, pp. 168ff.). This evil legal entity
was authorized to instigate economic sanctions against those who refused to appropriate the
“mark” of the beast, “mark” being a symbol for the proof of their submission to Caesar
worship (vs. 17). With this understanding of Revelation 13, it is unscriptural and unbiblical
to identify the sea beast in Revelation 13 with some future revived Roman dictator known as
the “Antichrist.”
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A second passage that some say predicts an Antichrist is Daniel 9:24-27. Notice
carefully the content of this marvelous prophecy. During the prophetic period that Daniel
identified in terms of seventy symbolic weeks (vs. 24), transgression, sin, and iniquity would
be “finished,” “ended,” and “reconciliation provided for.” This terminology clearly refers to
Christ’s sacrifice upon the cross (Hebrews 9:26). The effect of Christ’s atoning work was
that “everlasting righteousness” was ushered in. As Paul stated: “For He made Him who
knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2
Corinthians 5:21; cf. Jeremiah 23:5-6). Because of what Jesus did, individuals may now stand
before God completely righteous through obedient faith. Likewise, “vision” and “prophecy”
would be “sealed up.” This refers to the inevitable termination of Old Testament prophecy
and its fulfillment in Christ’s appearance in human history: “Yes, and all the prophets from
Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days” (Acts
3:24; Hebrews 1:1-2). Finally, the phrase in Daniel 9:24 that speaks of the “anointing” of the
“most holy” refers to the public ministry and official crowning of Jesus as He took His place
upon His throne to rule in His kingdom. Isaiah said: “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor” (61:1). On the day of
Pentecost, Peter said: “Therefore being exalted to the right hand of God” (Acts 2:33). Notice
that Daniel summarized the entire seventy-week period by including all of these six factors
in the seventy weeks.
Next, Daniel broke the seventy-week period into three segments: seven weeks, sixty-
two weeks, and one week. Verse 25 pertains to the first two sections of the seventy-week
period. During these two periods, that is during sixty-nine of the seventy prophetic weeks, a
decree would go forth calling for the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the reconstruction of the
temple that had been destroyed by the Babylonians (cf. Nehemiah 2:7-8; Ezra 1:1-3). Daniel
made clear that these sixty-nine weeks of the prophetic period, during which the temple
would be rebuilt and national Israel reestablished, would take one up to the appearance of the
Messiah.
Verse 26 speaks of the final week of the seventy week prophetic period, for he said
“after the sixty-two weeks.” “After” puts one into the final or seventieth week of Daniel’s
remarks. Two significant events were to occur during this final week. First, the Messiah
would be “cut off.” This definitely refers to Jesus’ death upon the cross: “He was cut off from
the land of the living” (Isaiah 53:8). Second, a “prince” and his people would come and
destroy the city and the sanctuary—an obvious allusion to the destruction of Jerusalem and
the temple edifice in A.D. 70 by Titus and his Roman army.
Verse 27 alludes to the activation of the new covenant between the Messiah and
“many,” that is, between Christ and those who are responsive to the demands of the new
covenant. As the Hebrews writer said: “Behold the days are coming, says the Lord, when I
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (8:8; cf. Acts
3:25). The New Testament teaches that the cutting off of the Messiah, the crucifixion, was
the act that confirmed the covenant (Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 9:15-29), and brought an
immediate end to the validity of the Old Testament practices of sacrifice and oblation
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(Colossians 2:14; Luke 23:45; Hebrews 10:18-20). Then Daniel alluded to the ruthless
invasion of Jerusalem in the phrase “abomination of desolation.” Jesus quoted this phrase in
Matthew 24:15 and Luke 21:20, and applied it to the Roman desecration and destruction of
the Jerusalem temple in A.D. 70.
Thus, the fundamental purpose of Daniel’s seventy-weeks prophecy was to show
God’s final and complete decree concerning the Israelite commonwealth. All of the events
described in the prophecy were literally fulfilled over 1,900 years ago. As far as God is
concerned, the logical end of the Old Testament and Judaism has occurred. Now He deals
only with the spiritual children of Abraham, whether Jew or Gentile (Romans 4:11-12,16;
9:8). Daniel 9 gives no credence to the notion of a future Antichrist.
A third passage used to foster belief in an Antichrist is 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12.
Whatever interpretation is placed upon this passage, its use to refer to a future personage is
doomed to failure since Paul explicitly stated that he was referring to a person who would be
the product of the circumstances of his own day, i.e., “already at work” (vs. 7). How could
Paul have had in mind a future dictator that still has not arisen, though 2,000 years have
transpired? One need go no further to know that 2 Thessalonians 2 does not refer to a future
Antichrist.
History is replete with a variety of interpretations of this passage, the most prominent
one likely being the view that the papacy is under consideration (see Workman, 1988, pp.
428-434; Eadie, 1877, pp. 340ff.). Another possibility is that the “falling away” (vs. 3), or
apostasy, referred to the Jewish rejection of the “new and living way” of approach to God
(Hebrews 10:20). The Jews were the single most adamant opponents to Christ and the infant
church (John 8:37-44; Acts 7:51-53; 13:45-50; Romans 10:20-21; 11:7; 1 Thessalonians
2:14-16). This rebellion, or falling away, would not reach its “full” (Matthew 23:32) climax
until the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, and the resulting dispersal of the Jewish people.
Paul had already alluded to this Jewish apostasy in 1 Thessalonians 2:15-16. The pouring out
of God’s wrath was the logical consequence of the first century Israelite failure to make the
change to Christianity.
The “man of sin” or “son of perdition” (vs. 3) would have referred to the
personification of Roman imperialism, and would have been equated with “the abomination
of desolation” that Jesus, quoting Daniel 9, alluded to in Matthew 24:15 and Luke 21:20.
Verse 4 would refer to the Roman general who introduced his idolatrous insignia into the
Holy of Holies in A.D. 70.
That which was “withholding” (vs. 6), or restraining, this man of sin, at the time Paul
was writing 2 Thessalonians in approximately A.D. 53, would have been the presence of the
Jewish state. The ingenious design of God was that Christianity would appear to the hostile
Roman government to be nothing more than another sect of the Jews. Thus, Christianity was
shielded for the moment (i.e., A.D. 30-70) from the fury of the persecuting forces of Rome,
while it developed, spread, and gave the Jews ample opportunity to be incorporated into the
elect remnant—the church of Christ (cf. Romans 11:26). Thus, the nation of Israel was
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rendered totally without excuse in its rejection of Christianity, while at the same time serving
as a restraining force by preventing Christianity from being perceived by the Romans as a
separate, and therefore illegal, religion (religio illicita). Once the Jewish apostasy was
complete, and God’s wrath was poured out upon Jerusalem, Christianity came to be seen as
a distinct religion from Judaism. Increasingly, Christians found themselves brought into
conflict with the persecution from “the wicked” or “lawless one” (vs. 8). In fact, after A.D.
70 (when the withholding effect of Judaism was removed), Roman opposition to Christianity
gradually grew greater, culminating in the fierce and formidable persecution imposed by
Caesar Domitian in the final decade of the first century.
Once the shield of Judaism was “taken out of the way” (vs. 7), and Christianity
increasingly found itself subject to the indignities of governmental disfavor, the Lord was to
come and “consume with the breath of His mouth” (vs. 8) the one who was responsible. This
terminology is not an allusion to Christ’s Second Coming. Rather this verse refers to Christ’s
coming in judgment on the Roman power. Such a use of the word “coming” to describe the
display of God’s wrath upon people in history is not unusual (cf. Isaiah 19:1; Micah 1:3).
Paul alluded to the government’s use of counterfeit miracles (vs. 9), and thus deceit (vs. 10)—
reminiscent of the Roman Concilia’s employment of trickery and illusion to deceive people
into worshipping the emperor in Revelation 13:13-15 during the last decade of the first
century A.D. (see Barclay, 1960, 2:127-128; Hailey, 1979, pp. 294-295; Summers, 1951, pp.
178-179). Sufficient textual indicators exist in this passage to exclude the premillennial
interpretation of a future “Antichrist.”
When studied in context, the passages that are used to bolster the dispensational
scheme provide no such support. Those over the centuries who have applied these passages
to papal authority, Napoleon, Mussolini, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, et al., have been shown to
be wrong. Amazingly, the pattern continues among those who have not learned from the sad
mistakes of the past.
Source: http://apologeticspress.org/apcontent.aspx?category=11&article=1209
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WHAT IS THE ANTICHRIST?
(GotQuestions.com)
Answer: First John 2:18 speaks of the Antichrist: “Dear children, this is the last hour;
and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come.
This is how we know it is the last hour.” The specific term antichrist is used seven times in
Scripture, twice here in 1 John 2:18 and also in 1 John 2:22; 4:3; and twice 2 John 7. So, what
is this Antichrist that the apostle John refers to?
The meaning of the term antichrist is simply “against Christ.” As the apostle John
records in First and Second John, an antichrist denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22),
does not acknowledge Jesus (1 John 4:3), and denies that Jesus came in the flesh (2 John
1:7). There have been many “antichrists,” as 1 John 2:18 states. But there is also coming the
Antichrist.
Most Bible prophecy/eschatology experts believe the Antichrist will be the ultimate
embodiment of what it means to be against Christ. In the end times/last hour, a man will arise
to oppose Christ and His followers more than anyone else in history. Likely claiming to be
the true Messiah, the Antichrist will seek world domination and will attempt to destroy all
followers of Jesus Christ and the nation of Israel.
Other biblical references to the Antichrist include the following:
The imposing, boastful king of Daniel 7 who oppresses the Jews and tries to “change
the set times and the laws” (verse 25).
The leader who establishes a 7-year covenant with Israel and then breaks it in Daniel
9.
The king who sets up the abomination of desolation in Mark 13:14 (cf. Daniel 9:27).
The man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12.
The rider on a white horse (representing his claim to be a man of peace) in Revelation
6:2.
The first beast—the one from the sea—in Revelation 13. This beast receives power
from the dragon (Satan) and speaks “proud words and blasphemies” (verse 5) and
wages war against the saints (verse 7).
Thankfully, the Antichrist/beast, along with his false prophet, will be thrown into the
lake of fire, where they will spend all eternity in torment (Revelation 19:20; 20:10).
What is the Antichrist? In summary, the Antichrist is the end-times false messiah who
seeks, and likely achieves, world domination so that he can destroy Israel and all followers
of Jesus Christ.
Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/what-is-the-antichrist.html
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THE ANTICHRIST
(Barry Gritters)
What is Antichrist? In these last days, this ought to be a burning question. Who is the
Antichrist? How can a lover of Christ identify him? What will he look like? How will he
behave? Where will his headquarters be located?
If you are expecting here an identification of a man or men who are Antichrist, you
will be disappointed. If you are expecting a prediction as to how many years before Antichrist
arises, you will not find it here. We hope to be faithful to the Reformed tradition of sober
exegesis of God's Word and careful maintenance of the Reformed faith. (Besides, a desire to
identify the Antichrist has often sidetracked the church from the important present calling
she has regarding Antichrist's spirit. To see what we mean by this, read on to the end.)
The confessions of Reformed churches say very little about Antichrist. Except for
passing references, one finds very little on eschatology (the doctrine of the last things) in the
Reformed confessions, and nothing in The Three Forms of Unity (Heidelberg Catechism,
Belgic Confession, and Canons of Dort) about Antichrist. This is not due to lack of firm
positions on eschatology at the time the confessions were written (between AD 1563 and
1619) but to this, that eschatology was not one of the vital issues of the Reformation.
Nevertheless, the Reformers themselves had a good deal to say about Antichrist, not
systematically, but throughout the whole of their writings. A treatise of Martin Luther written
shortly before his death in 1546 was entitled, "Against the Roman Papacy; an Institution of
the Devil." Luther began the holy tirade thus:
"The Most Hellish Father, Saint Paul III, in his supposed capacity as the bishop of the
Roman church..." (Luther's Works, Fortress Press, Volume 41, pg 263). In that treatise
he says that the pope is "the head of the accursed church of all the worst scoundrels
on earth, a vicar of the devil, an enemy of God, an adversary of Christ, a destroyer of
Christ's churches, a teacher of lies... a brothel-keeper over all brothel-keepers and all
vermin, even that which cannot be named; an Antichrist..." (ibid., page 357-358).
In Calvin's treatise of AD 1544 entitled "The Necessity of Reforming the Church"
(Selected Works of John Calvin, Volume 1, part 1, Tracts, Baker: 1983), Calvin says, "I deny
that See (the Roman Catholic's throne of authority: BLG) to be Apostolical, wherein nought
is seen but a shocking apostasy -- I deny him to be the Vicar of Christ, who, in furiously
persecuting the gospel, demonstrates by his conduct that he is Antichrist..." (pp. 219, 220).
The Westminster Confession, Presbyterian creed of the next century, includes an
article in which it boldly identifies the pope as Antichrist.
"There is no other head of the church but the Lord Jesus Christ. Nor can the pope of
Rome in any sense be head thereof; but is that Antichrist, that man of sin and son of
perdition that exalteth himself in the church against Christ and all that is called God"
(chapter 25, art. 6).
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As heirs of the Reformation and as those told to discern the signs of the times, we,
too, are concerned with the Antichrist. We will consider, then, Antichrist's identity, his
purpose and method, our calling to oppose him, and his certain destruction.
ANTICHRIST'S IDENTITY
General description
Scripture teaches Antichrist to be a political, religious, individual, yet to come in the
future (as of this writing), who is opposed to God and God's Christ and God's church.
Although the only places in Scripture the name Antichrist is used are I and II John (I John
2:18,22,4:3, II John 7), the Bible is replete with instruction regarding the reality we call
Antichrist. The key passages are Daniel 7, 8, 11; Matthew 24; II Thessalonians 2; and
Revelation 13, 17 and 18 -- where Antichrist is referred to as a beast, a little horn, a false
Christ, that wicked one, and the man of sin.
Antichrist: a false Christ
Antichrist's name gives us indication of what he is. He is Anti-christ as every Jew
knows, the name Christ is simply the Greek translation of the Hebrew Messiah, whom the
Jews expected to come in God's name to save them. The Messiah, or Christ, is the one
anointed by God and qualified to carry out a certain work in God's name. Christ's work is to
redeem God's people from sin and death by His own death, and to renew God's creation as a
creation of righteousness and peace. The man Jesus of Nazareth (died circa AD 33) is this
Christ. He is God's anointed, the servant of Jehovah. He is qualified to do the work of
redeeming God's people and renewing creation. The confession of the church down through
the ages is, "Jesus is the Christ."
Antichrist is a false Christ, according to Matthew 24:24. He claims to be anointed by God
with the Holy Spirit and claims to be qualified to do the work in God's name of redeeming
God's people and renewing the creation. But he is not. He is a liar. His claims are false. He
is a false Christ.
Antichrist: opposed to Christ and to God
A little word study may help to understand the prefix "anti" in the name Antichrist.
Just as antivenom is given to counteract the venom of a snake bite, and antiseptic is used
against infection, so Antichrist is against, is opposed to, Jesus Christ. This tells us the essence
of what Antichrist is: he is opposition to God's Christ. He is opposition to Christ personally;
he is against Christ's Church; he is against Christ's Word, Holy Scripture. Furthermore,
because Christ's mission is to show the name of Jehovah God to men by showing Himself to
them (see John 17:6, John 14:8,9, and Revelation 13:6), Antichrist is opposed to God
Himself.
So, although the Antichrist will leave the impression that his motivating force is love,
concern for humanity, and pity for the oppressed, what drives Antichrist is not love but
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hatred. The one motivating force in his life is opposition to Jesus Christ, opposition to all that
He stands for, and to all that stand for Him.
Antichrist: in place of Christ
The name Antichrist also indicates substitution. Antichrist opposes Jesus in order to
supplant Him, to take His place as Christ. Although the English language does not often use
the prefix "anti" to mean substitution, it is a common use of the preposition in the Greek
language. When Scripture says that Jesus died "for His people," one of the prepositions used
is anti indicating that He died as a substitute for His people. This is the secondary meaning
of the preposition anti. Antichrist purposes to be "in the place of," or "a substitute for" Jesus
the Christ.
II Thessalonians 2 points out how Antichrist comes as an impostor of the Christ from
God, and how there is a striking outward similarity between Antichrist and Christ. Will Jesus
Christ be revealed some day? So will Antichrist (Vss 3,8). Will Christ be in God's temple?
Antichrist will sit there also (Vs 4). Is Christ God? Antichrist will claim to be (Vs 4). Did
Christ support His claim to be God with signs and wonders? Antichrist, too, will perform
signs and wonders (Vs 9). Christ has a kingdom; so will Antichrist. Christ comes by the
power of the Spirit; Antichrist will come by the power of a spirit, who is the devil himself.
Does it surprise anyone, then, that in the Middle Ages Antichrist was called the "ape
of Christ"? He comes in the place of Christ, making himself out to be Christ. In every way
mimicking Christ, Antichrist will propose to be Christ. Antichrist is Satan's counterpart to
Christ. Jesus was God's choice to establish His kingdom, redeem His people, renew creation;
Antichrist is Satan's choice to establish his kingdom, gather in as many people as he can, and
subject all to himself. All of God's plan hinges on the works of Jesus, the Christ; all of Satan's
plans hinge on the working and success of Antichrist.
Antichrist: an individual person
Although there is difference of opinion among Reformed students of Scripture
regarding this, it is not difficult to see why many believe that Antichrist will be one man.
A reality that stands opposed to Jesus, but also that claims to be the Christ, the anointed of
God, must be a man as Christ was a man, a man in whom they put their trust, a man to whom
the people can look for deliverance from their miseries. How can something claim to be
Jesus, the man, and not be a man himself? Supporting this logic, II Thessalonians 2 seems to
make this plain. Antichrist is "that man of sin" and "the son of perdition" (Vs 3); he shows
"himself that he is God" (Vs 4); he is "that wicked (one)" (Vs 8).
Antichrist will be a definite individual, a particular human being. A single individual of
outstanding ability and extraordinary power will arise, who is opposed to Jesus Christ and
claims to be the Christ.
It is significant that Antichrist will be a man. Antichrist will not be some strange creature,
unrecognizable to you and me, some foreigner, a man from Mars or another solar system.
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Antichrist will not be a stranger to humanity. Indeed, he will be the final and full development
of man, of the human race. You will know him well, for his nature will be your nature. Man
always has and always will claim equality and identity with God (witness the insane ravings
of the Shirley MacLaines and others today). This man's claims will be believable; he will be
one of us.
Antichrist: a political power
Revelation 13 gives further instruction about Antichrist, teaching that his kingdom
will be both a political and an ecclesiastical empire. The vision of Revelation 13 must be read
in the light of Revelation 12, where the dragon cast out of heaven, identified as the devil and
Satan, pursues the woman (who represents the church of Christ) in the new dispensation.
The dragon is angry because the woman's man-child, Jesus Christ, is caught up into
heaven before the dragon can devour him. Now he spits his poisonous black bile on the
woman, persecuting her, making war with her seed! He hates and tries to devastate the
church.
In chapter 13 we have the appearance of two beasts which are the product of the
dragon in chapter 12-- his creation and servants ("...and the dragon gave him his power, and
his seat, and great authority" (Vs. 3). This first beast is a wild animal which arises out of the
sea. It looks like a leopard, but its feet are like bear's feet and its mouth like a lion's. Its seven
heads and ten horns make us think of the dragon himself in chapter 12:3 where he was
pictured with seven heads and ten horns. The heads of the beast are full of blasphemy. And
one of the heads has a scar from a wound now healed. After the beast has risen from the sea,
the whole world worships this beast, while it spews out blasphemies against God and makes
war with the saints and overcomes them.
This is the same beast that Revelation 17:3 refers to, where it is described as scarlet
in color, ridden by a great whore. If you study the vision in Revelation 13 in connection with
Daniel 7, you will see that the vision of Revelation 13 is based on that of Daniel 7, and that
the beast of Revelation 13 is the beast of Daniel 7. John's beast from the sea is a combination
of the leopard, bear, lion, and indescribable fourth beast of Daniel 7, whose ten horns give
rise to one horn that speaks great, boastful things, and makes war with the saints and prevails!
What does this beast from the sea represent? Antichrist! But Antichrist as a world
government, a political power, the likes of which this world has never seen. The origin of
this beast is the sea, which represents the restless nations and peoples of the earth. Isaiah
57:20teaches, "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose water cast
up mire and dirt." If more is needed, Revelation 17 tells us that "the waters which thou sawest,
where the whore sitteth, are peoples and multitudes and nations." Little doubt is left when we
see that the beast has horns and crowns. In Scripture horns are symbolic of power, and crowns
of ruling authority. Besides, Revelation 13:2 says that the beast has power and a throne and
great authority; and verse 7 says that he has power over all kindreds and tongues and nations.
If any question remains, Daniel 7 says that the four beasts are four kings; and Revelation 17
says the beast from the earth is a king. The centuries of division and separation on this earth
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will end in one world government. The Antichrist is a political reality, a new world order, a
global unity.
We emphasize the point in the preceding paragraph because there is often the
impression that Antichrist will simply be a religious figure. Scripture makes clear, however,
that Anti-christ will be a political power.
This political power will be a worldwide power. The beast has ten horns and ten
crowns, representing fullness of power and authority over the nations of the world. Verse 3
says that all the world wondered after the beast. Verse 7 says that he has power over all
kindreds and tongues and nations. And verse 8 says that all that dwell on the earth shall
worship him (all, of course, except those whose names have been written in the Lamb's book
of life).
But it is a worldwide power that is the goal of, and embodiment of, all previous world
powers. This is brought out in Revelation 13 in two ways. Follow along carefully as we look
at this important point. First, the beast of Revelation 13 has the characteristics of a leopard,
a bear, and a lion, so that, even though it is the final development of Daniel 7's fourth beast,
it somehow embodies the other three as well. The four beasts of Daniel 7, almost all agree,
represent four great world kingdoms: Babylon headed by Nebuchadnezzar; the Medes and
Persians led by Cyrus; Greece and Macedonia under Alexander the Great, and, finally, Rome.
The beast of Revelation 13 is the final development of the old, Roman kingdom (which
indicates that Antichrist will come out of the Christian West, and not the pagan East), but it
takes into itself also the other great kingdoms.
Secondly, that Antichrist's is a worldwide kingdom is also the meaning of the seven
heads of the beast described in Revelation 17. The 7 heads of the beast are 7 kingdoms-- five
of them had already fallen, one of them was still standing (at the time John wrote this
prophecy about AD 95), and one yet to come. Rome was the kingdom in existence, and the
one yet to come is the Antichristian kingdom. The five which have already passed out of
existence were the Greek kingdom, the Medo-Persian, the Babylonian, the Assyrian, and the
kingdom of Babel, headed by Nimrod. We see, therefore, one beast with seven heads. And
now the Spirit teaches us that the great kingdom of Antichrist, as the embodiment of these
former kingdoms, succeeds where the other kingdoms ultimately failed, achieving its goal of
world dominance. Nations cease their warring; the planet is united; the world is one. And
that world belongs to Antichrist.
The healing of the wound in Revelation 13 points to the success of Antichrist. We
must not fail to see the significance of the healing of the wound.
One of the heads of this beast had a "deadly wound that was healed." The explanation
of this is that in the time of Nimrod, at the tower of Babel, there was an attempt to unite all
men into one great world power. God frustrated this attempt by dividing the men and women
into different races with different colors and languages, so that they were forced to separate.
Races have remained separate ever since. All their efforts to be united have been frustrated
up to this point. At the end, Antichrist will succeed.
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This, we believe, is what II Thessalonians 2 speaks of when it says, "he who now
letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way." That is, "He that restraineth, will restrain...."
There is something or someone that restrains, hinders, impedes, the Antichrist from coming;
but in the end, that hindrance will be taken out of the way so that the Antichrist can succeed
in uniting all the kingdoms and nations of the world into one.
One must be blind and deaf not to detect this happening today. In a way that has never
happened before, that was impossible before, nations are holding hands and talking peace.
Walls are coming down. Economies are becoming more and more interdependent. The union
of all the world into one is on the horizon. One day soon the sun will rise on a united world,
and Antichrist will be its bright and morning star.
Antichrist: an ecclesiastical power
But Antichrist is not only a beast from the sea. The second part of the vision in
Revelation 13 further reveals him as another beast, one arising from the earth. This beast
serves the first beast, wielding the power of the first beast, making all the world worship the
first beast, and showing that without it the first beast is nothing. And the point of the vision
is that the reality of Antichrist is two cooperating powers, the one political, the other,
ecclesiastical.
The beast that arises out of the earth looks like a lamb. It had two horns of a lamb,
but it was a beast. So immediately we understand the nature of this beast; it is a deceptive
creature -- a ferocious beast disguised as a gentle lamb. The horror is that this beast
masquerades as Jesus Christ, who is THE Lamb of God. This beast, too, is powerful, for it
has horns. However, the power of this beast is not political or military. Rather, its power is
the power of persuasive speech. It speaks like a dragon, persuading the world to worship the
first beast, to build an image of the first beast, and to bow down to it.
It is plain that this beast represents false religion. Preaching and teaching make men
worship something or someone. But this is false teaching and lying preaching. That's evident
from the fact that this beast looks like a lamb, looks like Jesus Christ and all that Jesus Christ
represents, but in actuality is a beast. He claims to speak like Jesus, but has the foul breath
and fiery speech (in the eyes and nostrils of God) of a dragon.
This beast will not arise from Hinduism or Buddhism or any other pagan religion; he
will arise out of Christianity itself. Few Christians would believe a Ghandi's claim to be
Christ. When one looks at Revelation 19:20, that becomes obvious. There, in the passage that
describes the defeat of Antichrist, we read that the beast was taken, and with him the false
prophet that worked miracles before the beast. This second beast represents false Christianity,
the apostate church that calls itself "the Church of Christ" (we mean by this designation the
broad "church," and do not intend it to be confused with a certain denomination of that name).
The work of the second beast is the service of the first, the cooperating with the
Antichristian world government. What is that service? It is causing all the world to worship
the first beast. He will call all men and women of the world to bow down to the first beast,
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who is the "Savior of the world." Now the prophecy of Revelation 17 comes to pass: the
kings of the earth commit fornication with the whore, the false church.
If one asks what he should look for in the days to come, we say this: there will be
political union all nations will be gathered together into one mighty empire. This is the first
beast. There will also be religious union, joining all the religions and religious empires of the
world. The powerful ecumenical movement of today, led by the religions of Christianity, will
in the end fully succeed, swallowing up all the other religions of the world. You may expect
to see one man over it all. Antichrist.
ANTICHRIST'S PURPOSE
Why in the world would anyone work such deceitful effrontery? Why such effort in
a sham kingdom? Why would any man with that kind of worldwide sovereignty even want
his kingdom identified with Christ, labeled with the name of God?
To ask these questions is to answer them. Antichrist's purpose is to destroy the saints,
God's elect. And here we get to the heart of the matter. The man Antichrist, indwelt by Satan's
spirit, is opposed to God and opposed to Jesus His Christ. With a hatred that can be traced
back to the fall of the angels prior to Genesis 3, he despises God and God's cause in Jesus.
But he cannot touch God because God cast him out of heaven, according to Revelation 12;
and he cannot touch God's Christ, because Jesus was caught up into heaven. So the only thing
that remains for him to do is to breathe his fire on the seed of the woman, the Church of
Christ. Revelation 12 describes this church as the "remnant of her seed, which keep the
commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." In Matthew 24 they are
described as the "elect" of God.
The devil knows that to attack the Church is to attack Jesus, the Christ; and to do
damage to the body of Christ is to inflict damage upon Christ. He also knows that, because
the members of the church are the chosen of God, eternally loved by God (Deuteronomy 7:6-
8), to destroy them is equivalent to defeating God. So the objects of his fury are the beloved
of God.
His worldwide empire will be less an inflating of his ego than an attempt to see come
to pass his millennia-long dream of defeating God and God's purpose in the woman's Seed.
In his mind, the promise of God that the Serpent's head would be crushed must never be
fulfilled. He must have the victory over and defeat God. To defeat God's people is to defeat
God.
He desires to have you, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus
Christ -- the elect of God. And if that is true, you must know how he works. You must
understand his methods.
ANTICHRIST'S METHODS
Antichrist goes about his business by speaking the lie. II Thessalonians 2 says that he
comes "with all deceivableness of unrighteousness." Revelation 13:12 says, "and he spoke
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as a dragon...." Revelation 17 tells us that he was a false prophet, a prophet being one whose
calling it is to speak and to teach. The armies of the world may have guns and tanks and
bombs to bring people into submission; but the power of speech and ideas is a mighty power.
In his initial attempts to destroy the cause of God, the devil used a serpent to deceive the
woman with crooked speech: "You will be like God." Now he uses a "dragon" who speaks
crafty, lying words. His speeches will be heard by millions who will hang on his persuasive
rhetoric. The content as well as the form of his speech will attract. Like most false prophets,
he will even be sincere and passionate. But he is a liar. He adds dashes of truth to the mix, so
that his lie tastes like truth. He will use all the right catchwords, using the language of the
church, even throwing in a Bible text or two. But he is the ultimate Liar, and will deceive
many.
He will use every tool available: school teachers, politicians, news broadcasters,
artists, musicians, scientists and doctors, lawyers and businessmen. All will be pressed into
the service of Antichrist to deceive men. But especially he will use those whose calling it is
to persuade and to teach -- men who claim to be preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
What is this message that has such power to deceive? What is it that is preached by
the now-apostate churches once rooted in true Christianity, that stirs up mankind to this
ecumenical worship? What gospel will attract the hordes of men and women? What good
news will knit the souls of such diverse peoples and nations and tongues?
The gospel of Antichrist is humanism -- the happiness of man, the glory of man, the
peace and prosperity, the health and wealth of man. The number of the beast, do not forget,
is 6-6-6, the number of man.
But we remind you, the Antichrist deceives. He will not tip his hand by declaring
publicly, "I am the Antichrist." He will not claim that there is no God, no Christ, no salvation,
and that the message of the Bible is a lie. But he will say, "I am your Messiah; you are God
(Shirley MacLaine has comrades and consorts in the Rastifarians of Jamaica, whose word for
"divine" is "I-vine"!); and an earthly life of peace and prosperity, of health and happiness --
that is salvation." The distant rumblings of Antichrist's thunder are growing louder.
Performing miracles, Antichrist will establish himself and validate his claim as God's
anointed. This is the emphasis of II Thessalonians 2. Men have always performed miracles
to establish their authority, presenting them as the credentials of their divine appointment.
Moses did in Egypt. Elijah did on Mount Carmel. Jesus Christ and His apostles did. So will
Antichrist. Revelation 13:13 says that the second beast "doeth great wonders..." and verse 14
that "he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had
power to do in the sight of the beast." Matthew 24:24 indicates the same thing: "For there
shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders;
insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." This is the teaching of
II Thessalonians 2:9, "even him whose coming is after the working of Satan, with all power
and signs and lying wonders...." The works of Antichrist will be the works of Satan, who has
power beyond the natural ability of man.
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Nor will these be fake miracles. These will not be just magic tricks of talented men
like Harry Houdini and David Copperfield, but amazing deeds that simply defy explanation
in human, scientific terms. Buttressing the claims of Antichrist will be nothing less than the
superhuman power of the devil himself.
THE CHURCH'S CALLING: OPPOSE ANTICHRIST PRESENTLY
The critical danger for the church today is exactly the reality called Antichrist. There
is a danger that the church, as it were, posts a lookout to scan the horizon for Antichrist, so
that the lookout can warn the people of God when the enemy has arrived and sound the
warning to give battle. In the meantime the church is busy with its own legitimate work, but
supposes that the Antichrist is of no danger presently. That is precisely what Antichrist wants
the church to believe.
God's call to His people is to oppose the Antichrist now. We are not saying here that
the Christian's calling is to be ready to oppose Antichrist when he comes, urgent as that
calling is. We are saying that our calling and the calling that we urge you to carry out is this:
Oppose the opposer of Jesus Christ presently. Not someday, but today.
It is possible to oppose him now, for he is present now. Before you race ahead to find
us naming names, or identifying persons and churches, let us explain. I John 2:18 does not
say, "Antichrist shall come" but "Antichrist comes...." That is, there is a process of Antichrist
coming all down through the history of this world. This process involves the coming of many
Antichrists (in the plural). Thus, Matthew 24 can warn of "false Christs" and can say that
many shall come in Jesus' name saying, "I am Christ." This also explains how Paul can say
in II Thessalonians 2 that the mystery of iniquity is working. Even as Paul wrote that letter,
the mystery of iniquity was active in the world, preparing the way for the final Antichrist and
his work.
Recognizing Antichrist's "spirit"
Even in the old dispensation there were Antichrists, like Nimrod, Nebuchadnezzar,
Antiochus Epiphanes, and others. But especially in the New Testament since Christ's
ascension, Antichrist has been coming. The great Antichristian kingdom with its mighty head
will not appear ex nihilo, out of nothing, but will be the result of a long and gradual
development. And that long and gradual development is and has been the work of the spirit
of Antichrist, the spirit of Satan himself, laying the groundwork, preparing the way, making
ready for the revelation of the man of sin, the son of perdition.
Was it wrong, then, of the Reformers to say that the pope was Antichrist? If the
Reformers meant that the pope at that time, Pope St. Paul III, or another, was the personal
Antichrist, the man of sin, the final culmination of the Devil's work in this world, they were
mistaken. He did not complete the picture the Scripture draws. But one may not dismiss the
Reformers as wild-eyed fanatics. Consider: the pope is and was also a political figure. That
is no less plain today than it was in Luther's day. Then already the pope laid claim to the right
to crown kings and invest them with the authority to rule the world. Today, the Vatican has
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its ambassadors in almost every nation of the world and even we, the United States, send our
own representatives to the pope. The pope is a political head.
Rome has always embodied the Antichristian spirit and principles: a headship that is
in a man, a pope, a hierarchy; an authority of tradition in addition to the one Word of God; a
salvation by works in addition to faith and grace; a worship of another (Mary) in addition to
the worship of the one alone in whose name we find salvation (Acts 4:12).
A present struggle
The struggle of the people of God against Antichrist has always been and will always
be a present struggle. The call to oppose Antichrist must always be given in the present
imperative. Whether in the future the church's children (your children and my children) are
able to withstand the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition, depends, to a great degree, on the
success of the battle we wage against his spirit today.
The second beast is working; his labor is under way. We are not referring to specific
persons, or particular institutions and churches. We are referring to the spirit of our age that
rejects God and God's Word, and promotes with all of its power, MAN. The purpose of
education today is man's welfare; the purpose of science is man's pleasure; the goal of
entertainment is the good life for man. Hedonism says it all. The world is crowded with
Antichrists presently. No, look not only on the horizon for Antichrist. Look about you.
Oppose him today.
The manner of opposition
We do not oppose him with guns and tanks and bombs. We do not try to prevent his
coming or overthrow it when it comes by political power plays. We oppose him in a spiritual
manner, in the same way Jesus Christ opposed him during His ministry, and in the way Jesus
taught His disciples to oppose him in theirs -- by faith and the powerful Word of the gospel.
We oppose all that opposes Jesus Christ. We oppose humanism that exalts man and promotes
the cause of man and man alone. This is why Reformed believers from the beginning have
maintained that it is necessary for them to maintain good, Christian schools in which their
children are educated. The world inculcates its young with humanistic values and humanistic
goals, and we must have no part of that mis-education. We oppose humanism from the pulpits
of our churches, and put out those ministers and elders who would preach and teach this kind
of a gospel. In this way we oppose Antichrist today.
We oppose hierarchical church government. Hierarchy in the church (the rule by a
few "holy ones," or by an intellectual elite, from the top down) is Antichristian in spirit and
purpose. That is one main reason the Reformers were opposed to the pope. Audaciously, he
set himself up as Vicar of Christ, head of the church, whose word no priest or bishop or
counsel, much less layman, could question. We oppose Antichrist today by opposing
hierarchy -- a lordship of man, a setting aside of the Word of God and the replacing of it with
the word and will of man.
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We oppose the ecumenical mania, rife today in the churches. There are powerful
winds blowing -- hurricane force winds -- blowing across the churches to bring them together
into one, large church body. Robert Schuller, world-acclaimed pastor of one of the largest
Reformed churches in America, calls the church world: "It is time for Protestants to go to the
Shepherd (pope) and say, What do we have to do to come home?" (Los Angeles Herald
Examiner, September 19, 1987). The bottom line, the common denominator, that summons
all together is the goal of a world in which man will have earthly peace and prosperity. It
seems that the only "heresy" in the minds of most churchmen today is the questioning of the
ecumenical movement. There is even a widespread notion abroad, showing itself also in
Reformed circles, that all the pagan religions are legitimate, nothing other than the expression
of the universal religious feelings of mankind that probably find their best expressions in
Christianity. Witness the Protestant preachers praying with Muslims. The basis for that is
Humanism. The church of Christ today opposes Antichrist by giving battle to those notions
and ideas prevalent in the church today.
We oppose Antichrist by opposing all heresy in the church. Heresy, or false doctrine,
is nothing less than opposition to Jesus Christ, Who is the Way, the Truth and the Life. How
often does not Jesus warn His disciples of those wolves in sheep's wool who will misrepresent
the truth to draw men away from Jesus? But how much concern is there today for fighting
heresy, exposing false doctrine for what it is -- Antichristian in spirit and purpose, paving the
way for the man of sin himself who will deceive many?
Opposing heresy, we promote the truth. The people of God who have a heart for God's
Christ and Christ's church take the offensive in this battle against Antichrist. Promote the
gospel of Jesus Christ. Promote biblical church government. Promote the proper,
presbyterian form of church government. Promote the proper manner of church union and
reunion -- on the basis of the truth of the gospel of God.
Finally, we do battle with Antichrist in ourselves. For Antichrist has an ally in my
own sinful nature. Here is humanism in its basic form -- in my own heart. Here is the false
doctrine of salvation by the works of man, right here in my own proud breast. Here is
hierarchy, the rule by a few --by me. Right here in my own heart I find sympathy with the
notion that salvation comes by faith and by works. In myself is the lie in its crudest form --
"Ye shall be as God."
When the saint fights Antichrist in his heart, with his heart, God will give him the
strength to oppose Antichrist when he is revealed in the last day, at the end of which he will
be destroyed utterly and completely.
ANTICHRIST'S CERTAIN DESTRUCTION
Antichrist will succeed in deceiving many. By his earthly successes and charm,
Antichrist will deceive millions. The ungodly world as well as many in the churches will
fawn over him. Those who do not will not only be mocked, they will be killed.
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And for that, the wicked will be damned. This is the teaching of II Thessalonians
2:10-12. Even their deception is a judgment of God upon them; when Antichrist comes, God
will send a strong delusion that they should believe a lie. The reason for this is that they did
not receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. They heard the gospel, understood
the truth, but rejected it. They will perish with the Antichrist.
But in the end, Antichrist will be destroyed. God's people will be saved by sovereign
grace, through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. And Antichrist will be
destroyed.
The religious Antichristian empire will be destroyed by the political Antichristian
empire. For a time he uses the whore; in the end he turns on her (Rev 17:16). The political
empire breaks up into the battle of Armageddon: the kingdom of the beast (the Western,
"Christianized" nations) against the kingdom of the east (the pagan, non-Christian nations).
In the middle of that battle, Jesus Christ will return to destroy the Antichristian kingdom,
consume Antichrist with the spirit of His mouth, destroy him with the brightness of His
coming, and begin the judgment.
Jesus Christ reigns!
There will be no struggle by Jesus Christ with Antichrist. In moment of time, where
the entire history of the world climaxes, Christ in an instant will destroy the man of sin.
Therefore, do not fear!
The truth of the Antichrist is dreadful. The church must suffer under him, too. But we
are not to fear for a moment. And when you see the Antichrist in the future, be not in terror.
For in that darkest hour the world has ever known, we will be doing the same as we have all
our lives, waiting "with uplifted heads" for the coming of Jesus Christ, Who will redeem us
from all distress.
Source: http://www.prca.org/pamphlets/pamphlet_3.html
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WHO IS THE ANTICHRIST?
(JW.org)
A recent horror film was entitled Antichrist.

A popular music group named one of its albums Antichrist Superstar.
Friedrich Nietzsche, 19th-century philosopher, named one of his works The
Antichrist.
Kings and emperors in the Middle Ages often called their opponents antichrists.
Martin Luther, German Reformation leader, labeled Roman Catholic popes as
antichrists.
SINCE the term “antichrist” has long been used as a label for everything from
monarchs to movies, it is only natural to ask: Who is the antichrist? Does this term have
anything to do with us today? Surely the logical place to begin when searching for the identity
of the antichrist is in the Bible, where the term appears five times.
ANTICHRIST EXPOSED
The only Bible writer to use the word “antichrist” is the apostle John. How did he
describe the antichrist? Note these words in the first letter bearing his name: “Young children,
it is the last hour, and just as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many
antichrists have appeared, from which fact we know that it is the last hour. They went out
from us, but they were not of our sort . . . Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is
the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.”—1 John 2:18,
19, 22. The apostle John understood the antichrist to be all who deliberately spread religious
deception about Jesus Christ and Jesus’ teachings.
What do we learn from those words? John mentioned “many antichrists,” indicating
that the antichrist is, not an individual, but a collective term. People or organizations making
up the antichrist spread lies, deny that Jesus is the Christ, or the Messiah, and try to distort
the relationship between God and His Son, Jesus Christ. Those who make up the antichrist
claim to be Christ or his representatives, but since “they went out from us,” they deviated
from true Bible teachings. Furthermore, this group was present at the time when John wrote
his letter, in “the last hour,” presumably the end of the time of the apostles.
What else did John write regarding the antichrist? Speaking about false prophets, he
warned: “Every inspired statement that acknowledges Jesus Christ as having come in the
flesh originates with God. But every inspired statement that does not acknowledge Jesus does
not originate with God. Furthermore, this is the antichrist’s inspired statement that you have
heard was coming, and now it is already in the world.” (1 John 4:2, 3) Then, in his second
letter, John reiterated this point: “Many deceivers have gone out into the world, those not
acknowledging Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.”
(2 John 7) Clearly, John understood the antichrist to be all who deliberately spread religious
deception about Jesus Christ and Jesus’ teachings.
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“FALSE PROPHETS” AND “THE MAN OF LAWLESSNESS”
Jesus warned that false prophets would come as ‘ravenous wolves in sheep’s
covering’ Long before John wrote about such religious deceivers, Jesus Christ advised his
followers: “Be on the watch for the false prophets who come to you in sheep’s covering, but
inside they are ravenous wolves.” (Matthew 7:15) The apostle Paul likewise warned
Christians in Thessalonica: “Let no one lead you astray in any way, because it [the day of
Jehovah] will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets
revealed, the son of destruction.”—2 Thessalonians 2:3.
Hence, in the first century, false prophets and apostates were already at work,
endeavoring to weaken the Christian congregation. All those involved in spreading lies and
religious deception about Jesus Christ and his teachings were included in John’s term
“antichrist.” Jehovah’s view of them was revealed when Paul described them as “the son of
destruction.”
BEWARE OF ANTICHRIST’S ACTIVITIES TODAY
What about today? People and organizations making up the antichrist still oppose
Christ and his teachings. They deliberately spread lies and deceptions with the intent of
confusing the identity of the Father, Jehovah God, and of His Son, Jesus Christ. We have
good reason to beware of such religious deceptions. Let us look at two examples.
For centuries, the churches propagated the doctrine of the Trinity, claiming that the Father
and the Son are part of the same entity. The antichrist thus shrouds in mystery the identity of
Jehovah God and Jesus Christ. This mystery hinders sincere people from imitating Jesus
Christ and drawing close to God, as the Bible encourages them to.—1 Corinthians 11:1;
James 4:8.
The churches add to the confusion by promoting the use of Bible translations that
omit God’s personal name, Jehovah, from the text. They do this despite the fact that the name
Jehovah occurs some 7,000 times in the original text of the Bible. The result? The identity of
the true God becomes even more shrouded in mystery.
On the other hand, knowing God’s name, Jehovah, has helped many honesthearted
worshippers to draw closer to God. That was the experience of Richard, who recalls a
conversation with two of Jehovah’s Witnesses. “They showed me from the Bible that the
name of the true God is Jehovah,” explains Richard. “I was fascinated by the thought that
God has a personal name, something I had never heard before.” From that point on, he made
changes in his life to conform to Bible standards and to please Jehovah. “Learning God’s
name has helped me to develop a close relationship with him.”
For centuries, the antichrist has kept millions in spiritual darkness. But by studying
God’s Word, the Bible, we are able to learn the true identity of the antichrist and be set free
from the antichrist’s religious lies and deceptions. —John 17:17.
Source: https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/wp20150601/who-is-the-antichrist/
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The 144,000
THE 144,000
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. Doctrine that teaches that the phrase “those who were sealed” refers to a group of
individuals who are chosen from among mankind to rule with Christ in heaven over
the coming Paradise earth. (2 Corinthians 1:21, 22; Revelation 5:9, 10; 20:6)
2. Their number, 144,000, is understood literally for several reasons. One is found in
the immediate context of Revelation 7:4.
3. It refers to those who will rule in heaven with Christ over a paradise earth, which will
be filled with a large and undetermined number of happy people who worship
Jehovah God. —Psalm 37:29.
4. The 144,000 consists of the literal actual number of those who will be in heaven (the
heavenly class), and the Great Multitude will be those who will inherit the earth
forever (the earthly class).
Doctrine Defeated.
1. The Bible teaches that the gospel is addressed to all men and all who believe and obey
the gospel will be saved in heaven (Mark 16:15, 16; Acts 2', Rev. 7-22).
2. John 10:16 teaches that there is one flock before God, which refutes the erroneous
idea of two classes of saved people, also read: Ephesians 1:22, 23; 21:15-16; 1
Corinthians 12:13, 20; Acts 2:27.
3. Revelation 7 is a symbolic passage that describes the people of God.
4. The 144,000 is simply the typical number of the unbrokenness, of the irreducible
completeness of the people of God, the people for God’s own possession.
5. Examples of the use of 12 in Revelation (12:1; 21:14, 12, 16, 17, 19, 20; 21:19-20;
22:2).
6. If the number "144,000" is literal then the tribes are literal and that makes the
"144,000" all Jews.
7. If the number “144, 000 is literal then they must be male and also must be virgins
(Revelation 14:4).
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True
TRUE
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THE 144,000
(J. Noel Meredith)
Isaiah speaks of the “remnant” (shear) of Israel that will survive impending judgment
and become the germ of the people of God, being blessed of God and made a blessing (Isa.
10:20-22). Ezekiel speaks of a “residue” (sheerith) that will be spared in a time of trouble
(Ezek. 9:8). In Matthew 7:13, 14 the Lord said that only a “few” (holigoi) will find the strait
gate and narrow way which leadeth unto life. In Revelation 7:4 the number 144,000 is used
of the saved. But, every person who studies figurative language knows that this text is a case
of a definite number put for the indefinite.1 It just indicates that those who are sealed will be
rewarded. So, how many pe0ple are going to be saved? We do not know exactly how many;
but, it will be a remnant, a residue, a few, all those who are faithful.
I. THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESS POSITION STATED ON THE 144,000
Jehovah’s Witness have two classes of the saved: (1) the “anointed class" which is
the 144,000, and (2) the “other sheep.” The way of salvation is different for both and the
eternal destiny is different. Let God Be True is the most widely circulated and perhaps best
known Jehovah’s Witness doctrinal book. That book makes the following statement:
All who by reason of faith in Jehovah God and in Christ Jesus dedicate themselves to
do God’s will and then faithfully carry out their dedication will be rewarded with
everlasting life (Romans 6:23). However, that life will not be the same for all. The
Bible plainly shows that some of these, that is, 144,000, will share in heavenly glory
with Christ Jesus, while the others will enjoy the blessings of life down here on earth
(Revelation 14:1, 3; Micah 4:1-5).
Charles T. Russel] had already distinguished between two classes of saved people. A
higher class, which he called class n, which would be the Bride, the “little flock,” which
would sit with the Lord in his throne; and a lower class, m, who shrink from the death of the
human will and will not sit with the Lord in his throne, but would finally reach birth as spirit
beings. Group m was called the “Great Company.”
There are important differences, however, between the two classes as described by
Russell and the two classes as distinguished by Jehovah’s Witnesses today. For Russell both
of these classes were spirit-begotten; for Witnesses today, however, the other sheep, or lower
class, cannot be spirit-begotten. Russell taught that the members of the 272 class would
eventually become spirit beings; whereas the Witnesses today say that the other sheep will
never become spirit beings.
Jehovah’s Witnesses say the first resurrection took place in 1918 with the coming of
Christ to Jehovah’s temple. At that time part of the 144,000 were raised and the others remain
on earth through the years and those who die after 1918 are changed in a moment in the
twinkling of an eye to an eternal spirit existence with Christ. They say:
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At Revelation 14:1, 3 the Bible is conclusive in predicting that the final
number of the heavenly congregation will be 144,000, according to God’s decree.
Because his true congregation was pictured by the twelve tribes of Israel under Moses,
the heavenly congregation is likened to twelve tribes of 12,000 members each, under
the Greater Moses, Christ Jesus. The congregation, then, is restricted to this select,
predestinated number; and in heaven it is made the capital part or ruling body of
Jehovah’s universal organization. It is referred to in Scripture also as the ‘body’ of
Christ and as the ‘bridc‘ of the Lamb Jesus Christ. (Revelation 7:4-8; 19:7; 21:9;
Ephesians 1:20-23). All other creatures receiving life at God’s hand through the
Kingdom will not be a part of ‘the congregation of God’, but will live on this earth
under the rulership of Christ Jesus and his congregation in the heavens.
Witnesses believe that the 144,000 who will rule in heaven with Jesus is spiritual
Israel and includes both Jews and Gentiles.5 They thus take the number 144,000 as literal
and take Israel as figurative, a rather strange arrangement.
As to the “other sheep” who will live on the earth forever they are described as being a part
of the subjects of Christ and the 144,000.
Jehovah’s Witnesses assign various names to the second-class believers. The name
“great multitude” or “great crowd” is derived from Revelation 7:9, where, so it is alleged,
this group is distinguished from the 144,000 mentioned in Revelation 7:4.6 Jehovah’s
Witnesses conclude that the other sheep are not limited in number. “Anyone may become
one of this great crowd of sheep like people who will gain everlasting life on a paradise
earth.”7 How? By hearing the voice of the Right Shepherd and coming into the New World
Society “this means, of course, subjecting themselves to the Society’s requirements for other
sheep.
II. THE JEHOVAH’S WITNESS POSITION REFUTED
The Bible says that there is “one body” and that we have been called to “one hope”
of our calling (Eph. 4:4). Jehovah’s Witnesses have split the saved into two groups, with two
separate and distinct hopes for the future. “The hope of the ‘other sheep’ is earthly; the hope
of the ‘little flock’ is heavenly.”
The Bible teaches that the gospel is addressed to all men and all who believe and obey
the gospel will be saved in heaven (Mark 16:15, 16; Acts 2', Rev. 7-22). Galatians 3:26, 27
says: “For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were
baptized into Christ did put on Christ.”
The Jehovah’s Witnesses have taken Revelation 7 which speaks of the 144,000 and
the Great Multitude and built an entire doctrine around it. They teach that the 144,000
consists of the literal actual number of those who will be in heaven (the heavenly class), and
the Great Multitude will be those who will inherit the earth forever (the earthly class). The
144,000 are spirit beings who will live in heaven. The Great Multitude will be living upon a
regenerated earth in perfect human bodies.
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In an effort to justify two groups of saved people, viz, the 144,000 and the Great
Multitude, they cite John 10:16, “other sheep l have, which are not of this fold . . .” But the
passage itself is fatal to their view because the last part of John 10:16 says “they shall become
one flock . . .” This completely refutes their two-class system.
Furthermore, Ephesians 2:15, 16 tells us that Jesus has reconciled both Jew and
Gentile “in one body unto God through the cross.” 1 Corinthians 12:20 says, “they are many
members, but one body.” I Corinthians 12:13 “For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one
body. . Ephesians 1:22, 23 says that the body is the church, and the saved are in the church
(Acts 2:47); thus, all the saved are in one body the church.
Revelation 7 is a symbolic passage that describes the people of God. First, they are
presented under the symbol of 144,000 and then they are presented under the symbol of the
Great Multitude. The number 144,000 is a case of a definite number being put for an
indefinite number. The woman clothed with the sun has a crown of twelve stars on her head
(12:1). The New Jerusalem has twelve gates and at the gates twelve angels (21:12). Inscribed
on the gates are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel (21:12). The city has twelve
foundations and inscribed on them are the names of the twelve apostles of the lamb (21:14).
The city is laid out as a square with the dimensions of 12,000 stadia (21:16). The height of
the wall is 144 cubits (12 x 12) (21 :17). The foundations of the walls consist of twelve costly
jewels (21:19, 20). The twelve gates are twelve pearls. The tree of life yields twelve kinds of
fruit, each month (22:2). The twelve thousand sealed from each of the twelve tribes of Israel
is 144,000 (12,000 x 12) (724-8). With this background of usage, one can see why the number
144,000 is taken symbolically. The 144,000 is simply the typical number of the
unbrokenness, of the irreducible completeness of the people of God, the people for God’s
own possession.
Evidence that the 144,000 and the Great Multitude are the same, is indicated by both
being described as being before the throne of God. Revelation 7:15 says the Great Multitude
is “before the throne of God; and they serve him day and night in his temple: and he that
sitteth on the throne shall spread his tabernacle over them.” Revelation 14:3 says the 144,000
“sing as it were a new song before the throne . . . ” Jehovah’s Witnesses attempt to get around
this dilemma by saying that the Great Multitude is before the throne, but down here on earth.
However, the Great Multitude serve God “day and night in his temple” (Rev 7:15). Is the
temple on earth? No, the temple is in heaven. Revelation 11:19 says: “And there was opened
the temple of God that is in heaven . . . ” Revelation 4:2 says that the throne is in heaven also.
Jehovah’s Witnesses are wrong in trying to keep the Great Multitude out of heaven
and place them on the earth. (1) The Great Multitude is dressed in white robes, those who
came out of great tribulation, and washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 7:9, 13,
14). (2) But those who wash their robes “have the right to come to the tree of life, and may
enter in by the gates into the city” (Rev. 22:14). (3) The city is heaven and the throne of God
is therein (Rev. 22:1-3). (4) Therefore, the Great Multitude will be in heaven, around the
throne of God, because they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of
the Lamb. It is thus a fallacy to try to keep the Great Multitude out of heaven.
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Able commentators through the years have pointed out that the 144,000 and the Great
Multitude are the same. Such men as Pieters, Moffatt, Kiddle, D. Smith, J. Smith, Richardson,
Charles, Swete, Beckwith, Milligan, Hengstenberg, Morris and others argue that they are the
same.
But what about the view that has the 144,000 represent Jewish Christians and the
Great Multitude represent Gentile Christians? It does not appear that this view is correct. The
following are solid reasons for concluding that the 144,000 and the Great Multitude are the
same.
(1) A distinction between Jewish and Gentile Christians is not drawn elsewhere in
Revelation. To the writer John, the church is one.
(2) The New Testament presents the church as the true Israel. The church is referred
to as the twelve tribes (James 1:1); the Christian is the true Jew (Rom. 2:29); and, the church
is the Israel of God (Gal. 6:16).
(3) Some of the expressions of the passage are inconsistent with the limitation of the
sealed to Jewish Christians alone. Why, for example, should the holding back of the winds
be universal (Rev. 7:1). Then, too, the designation “servants” would seem to include the
whole number, and not some only, of God’s children (Rev. 7:3).
(4) The seal of protection is placed on the foreheads of the 144,000, and in Revelation
22:4 all believers are marked in a similar way.
(5) The number 144,000 is found again in Revelation 14. It can hardly be doubted
that the same persons are included in it on both occasions; in chapter 14 it is clear that the
whole number of the redeemed is symbolized.
(6) Revelation is a book of contrasts. In many passages of this book (Rev.l3:l6, 17;
14:9; 16:2; 19:20; 22:4) we find all Satan’s people branded on their foreheads. This would
appear to be an antithesis to the passage in Revelation 7. Therefore, all God’s people are
sealed.
(7) The Great Multitude before the throne and before the Lamb unfolds a higher stage
of privilege and glory than the statements about the 144,000 in the first part of Revelation 7.
It would be strange that John would be rejecting the Gentiles from the sealing and giving
them a position inferior to the Jew, and then speak of the Gentiles as the inheritors of a far
greater privilege and glory. The apostle could hardly be so inconsistent with himself as this.
It would thus appear that the vision of the sealing does not apply to Jewish Christians
alone but to all Christians. When the judgments of God are abroad in the world, all the
servants of the Lord are sealed for protection. After these things, the sealing of the protected
saints on the earth, John saw a vision of greaterjoy and encouragement. He saw a great host
beyond the ability of man to number. They were out of every nation and were before the
throne and before the Lamb giving praise to the Lord. The Great Multitude by prolipsis is
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seen in the vision by the symbol of the Great Multitude who are out of the world and in the
presence of the Lord.
III. AN ANALYSIS OF REVELATION 7
(1) Introduction. The sixth seal had been opened, but before coming to the seventh
seal there is an interlude in Revelation. In this interlude between the opening of the sixth and
seventh seals is the picture of the 144,000 and the Great Multitude. The six seals revealed the
four horsemen symbolizing Conquest, War, Famine, Pestilence; the Martyred Saints;
Judgment and Cosmic Upheavals. The purpose of the interlude is to show God’s care of the
church and God’s provision for the church in spite of the ordeal of this world. Satan’s forces
will be punished; the Lord’s servants will be blessed. Satan‘s forces will have fear; the Lord’s
servants shall stand in comfort.
(2) The Sealing 0f the Servants of God (Rev. 721-8). John saw four angels standing
on the four corners of the earth. Their function is to hold back the four winds of the earth.
The angels are preventing harmful winds from blowing on the earth, on the sea, and on any
tree (Verse 1). The four winds may be another way of referring to the four horsemen.
Zechariah’s four horsemen are explicitly interpreted as the four winds of the heavens (Zech.
6:5). John sees another angel ascending from the east. The angel had the seal of the living
God. Seals are placed upon things for the purpose of identification or showing genuineness
(Verse 2). The angel from the east cried to the four angels not to hurt the earth, the sea, nor
the trees, till the servants of God be sealed (Verse 3). The destructive powers are to be
restrained till the servants of God would be sealed, that is, till they would become servants
of God by believing and obeying his word.
(3) The 144,000. John “heard” the number of them that were sealed, “a hundred and
forty and four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel” (Verse 4). The
figure 144,000 is not to be taken literally, but symbolically. It stands for those who were
redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb (Rev. 14:4). This
is a case of a definite number being put for an indefinite. The 144,000 would be a definite
for an indefinite for it is not reasonable to suppose that there would be exactly 12,000 from
each tribe. H.B. Swete is probably correct in saying that the 144,000 represents “the whole
number of the faithful.” 1n the listing of the twelve tribes (Verses 5-8), the student will notice
that Dan is omitted. There are at least nineteen different arrangements of the tribes in the Old
Testament; that in Revelation is not like any of the others. It has been suggested that Dan is
left out because this was the first tribe to go into idolatry (Judges 18). lrenaeus (2nd cent.)
held that Dan was omitted because the Antichrist was to spring from this tribe. Joseph’s
descendants were divided into two tribes Ephraim and Manasseh; but in this list Joseph is
given the place of Ephraim. It was only necessary to mention twelve, the original number of
Jacob’s sons, to indicate Israel, and here the reference is to spiritual Israel.
(4) The Great Multitude (Rev. 729-17). After these things, John “saw” a Great
Multitude which no man could number, out of every nation of all tribes and peoples and
tongues (Verse 9). The redeemed are dressed in “white robes.” The Greek noun stolas
signifies long robes; and, so, glorious garments. They had “palms” in their hands which are
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symbols of triumph. The multitude of the redeemed cried out: “Salvation unto our God who
sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb” (Verse 10). All the angels, the twenty-four elders,
and the four living creatures joined in the adoration (Verse 11). The ascription of praise is
sevenfold (as in Rev. 5:12): (I) Blessing, (2) glory, (3) wisdom, (4) thanksgiving, (5) honor,
(6) power, and (7) might. Each of the seven items carries the definite article in the Greek text,
thus emphasizing them individually. One of the elders (Verse 14) offered to explain the vision
to John. He first asked a twofold question about those in white robes: (l)what are these, and
(2) whence come they? John answered, “My Lord, thou knowest” (Verse 14), literally, “you
have knowledge” (perfect tense). Then comes the explanation: “These are they that come out
of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb.” The tribulation refers to the persecution and suffering they had to endure because
they were Christians. The word used here for tribulation (Thlipsis) is a word which pictures
the grinding of wheat in the mill or the crushing of grapes in the wine press. It is outside
pressure which appears at first sight to crush and ruin, but it proves to make the grain (as
flour) and grapes (as wine) to be of greater service. So in the new exodus they pass through
the great tribulation, sustained by the blood of the Lamb, into the bliss 0f heavenly joy and
praise. “Washing” is clearly used figuratively, for washing in the blood of Christ. This is only
a figurative expression that means one’s sins are forgiven through Christ’s blood. Only the
blood washed can stand before the “throne” of God (Verse 15) and enjoy God’s presence
forever. They serve him day and night in his temple {naos}, sanctuary. The Eternal One, who
sits on the throne, shall dwell among them (skenosei), literally, shall tent or tabernacle. The
blessings of the redeemed is further described thus: “They shall hunger no more, neither thirst
anymore; neither shall the sun strike upon them, nor any heat” (Verse 16; cf. Isa. 49:10; Rev.
21:3-5). The reason for the foregoing is that the “Lamb that is in the midst of the throne shall
be their shepherd, and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life: and God shall wipe
away every tear from their eyes” (Verse 17).
“Premillennialism True or False?” J. Noel Meredith: The 144,000. Pages 74-80.
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ONLY 144,000 IN HEAVEN?
(Welton Weaver)
According to the Jehovah's Witnesses the number of the elect has been set by Divine
decree at 144,000. "The church of Christ consists of Jesus Christ the head and the 144,000
members of his body."(1) Only the 144,000 will go to heaven. "These are the only ones whom
Jehovah God takes to heaven with the Son. All others who gain life in His new world will
live in Paradise restored here on earth."(2) This position is more fully developed in the
following quotations:
Those who are called by God to share in such heavenly service are few in number.
As Jesus said, they are a `little flock'. Years after his return to heaven, Jesus made known the
exact number . . . à hundred and forty-four thousand . . . who have been bought from the
earth' (Revelation 14:1, 3).
However, the `little flock' who go to heaven are not the only ones who receive
salvation. As we have seen, they will have happy earthly subjects. Jesus referred to these as
his òther sheep,' of whom à great crowd' are even now serving God faithfully.-- John 10:l6;
Revelation 7:6, 15.(4)
This view of the 144,000 and their relationship to Jesus Christ and the rest of mankind
may be diagramed as follows:
The purpose of this article is to show that Rev. 7:4 and 14:1-3 do not teach that only 144,000
will go to heaven, as the Witnesses claim. Other passages cited in the diagram, such as Rev.
5:9, 10 and 20:6, are not within the scope of this review. It should be noted in passing,
however, that these passages are also grossly misused in their argument. The "first
resurrection" of Rev. 20:6 is the resurrection of the cause for which the martyrs of Rev. 6:9,
10 have been slain.
The reign of those mentioned in Rev. 5:9, 10 is a present reign upon the earth and has
no reference whatever to a reign of the 144,000 from heaven over the rest of mankind. The
"little flock" of Lk. 12:32 refers to the then small band of disciples of Jesus who were about
to receive the kingdom of God (see Mk. 9:1; Lk. 24:48, 49; Acts 1:4, 5; Acts 2:1-4). The
"other sheep" of John 10:16 are the Gentiles, since the gospel was first preached to the "lost
sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 1:6; Rom. 1:16).
Without getting into a discussion of whether the 144,000 in both Rev. 7:4 and 14:1-3
refers to the same subjects… we need to give some attention to the matter of where they are.
Are they on earth or in heaven? The Witnesses claim that since 1918 all of the 144,000,
except a very small remnant, have gone to heaven. They also say that the "great multitude,
which no man could number" (Rev. 7:9) is a separate group and represents all the other saved
people who will remain on earth. But a careful reading of the verses in chapter seven will
show that the multitude is in heaven and is contrasted with the 144,000 who are yet on earth.
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The 144,000 represent God's elect on earth. These are sealed for protection against
the tribulation about to be brought against the earth (7:1, 2). Their sealing does not protect
them against martyrdom, for they are to be martyred by the beast which is to rise out of the
sea (11:7). It only protects them against the "hurt" about to be brought upon the earth. This
"hurt" is held back until the sealing is completed (7:3), or until the church on earth has been
fully prepared for the coming judgments against the earth.
In addition to the 144,000, John sees "a great multitude, which no man could number
. . . standing before the throne and before the Lamb" (7:9). Two factors in particular suggest
that this multitude is in heaven. First, these subjects are not sealed, indicating they have
passed beyond the need of protection because they have already passed through the
tribulation (7:14). The 144,000 yet face the tribulation and are sealed for protection against
it. Second, the multitude is "arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands." The white
robes symbolize their righteousness, while the palm branches in their hands symbolize their
victory. They now appear "before the throne and before the Lamb" with the angels, elders,
and four living creatures (7:11, 13).
But we are told by the Witnesses that the multitude stands before the throne, and since
the earth is God's footstool the multitude is yet on earth. The fact that this multitude stands
before the throne, however, does not in itself tell us whether it is on earth or in heaven. But
other factors do strongly argue against the possibility of this multitude being on earth. For
example, the angels, elders, and the four living creatures also appear "before the throne"
(7:11). That the multitude is with them is made clear by the question asked by one of the
elders: "These that are arrayed in the white robes, who are they, and whence come they?"
(7:13).
The elder is told that they are the ones who came out of the great tribulation (7:14),
and this is the reason given that they are now "before the throne of God" (7:15). Now notice
that this multitude has come from somewhere to appear before the throne. They have come
out of the great tribulation, but they have also come "before the throne." That is where the
angels, elders, and four living creatures are (7:11).
There is nothing to suggest that the multitude who now stands before the throne is yet
on earth, while the other members of the heavenly host who also appear "before the throne"
are in heaven. In fact, all the evidence is contrary to such a view. If the multitude standing
before the throne means the multitude is on earth, why does not the angels, elders, and living
creatures before the throne mean that they too are on earth? We also see in Rev. 8:2 seven
angels standing "before God." In 8:3, a golden altar is "before the throne," and the angel takes
fire from it and pours it upon the earth. Are the seven angels, the golden altar, and the angel
who takes fire from the altar on earth because they are all before God or the throne? The fact
that the multitude is standing before the throne does not change the matter. The angels in
7:11 and 8:2 are also standing, but they are in heaven.
How are we to identify the multitude? Is it the same as the 144,000? Some think so.
But whether it is or is not, if it is in heaven, as we maintain, the view that only 144,000 will
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go to heaven is definitely wrong. If it is the same as the 144,000, John says it cannot be
numbered. If it is a separate group (as I believe), then there will be the 144,000 plus the great
multitude in heaven. The 144,000 is not to be taken literally. The number simply suggests
completeness. In Rev. 7:4, it represents all of God's elect on earth, or spiritualized Israel (see
Jas. 1:1; 1 Pet. 1:1; Lk. 22:30; Matt. 19:28; Gal. 6:16 and Phil. 3:3). In particular, the number
refers to those saints in John's day yet facing martyrdom, who after death will join those
saints already in heaven (the great multitude).
Truth Magazine XIX: 26, pp. 410-412
May 8, 1975
Source: http://www.truthmagazine.com/archives/volume19/TM019176.html
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THE JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, THE 144, 000, AND THE BIBLE
(Jim Lynn)
My assignment for this article is the viewpoint of the Jehovah's Witnesses concerning
the "144,000" of Revelation 14:1-3 and then to see what the Scriptures have to say about it.
I am thankful for this opportunity and it is my prayer to God that all who read will be
benefited in a spiritual way.
The "144,000" has many different names according to the Jehovah's Witnesses, i.e.,
"the heavenly class, body of Christ, chosen ones, elect, holy nation, Israel, kingdom class,
anointed, new creation, the little flock, and the congregation of God" (The Bible and the
Watch Tower Society, Robert A. Bolton). One other name given to them by the WTBTS
(Watchtower Bible and Tract Society) in ("Look! I Am Making All Things New," pp. 22,23)
is "the perfect government of peace. " From the same publication I quote, "The Bible shows
that the perfect government will be in heaven. From this vantage point, the King Jesus Christ
will effectively rule all the earth in righteousness.
Moreover, he will have associate rulers in that invisible, heavenly government. These
are chosen from among faithful humans, followers of Jesus who stuck with him through trials
and to whom he says." "I will make a covenant with you, just as my Father has made a
covenant with me, for a kingdom" (Lk. 22:28-29). This list is added to in 2 Timothy 2:12 --
"If we go on enduring, we shall also rule together as kings." Here Paul and Timothy are added
to the covenant of Luke 22:28-29. It is only a few humankinds who are taken to heaven to
rule with Christ Jesus.
So God's kingdom, or heavenly government, consists of Christ Jesus and "144,000"
people taken from earth to heaven (Rev. 14:1-4; 5:9-10). "And I saw, and behold, the Lamb
standing on the mount Sion, and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand, and having
his name, and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from
heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and the voice I heard
was as the voice of harpers harping with their harps. And they sing as it were a new song
before the throne, and before the four living creatures and the elders: and no man could learn
the song save the hundred and forty and four thousand, even they that have been purchased
out of the earth.
These are they that were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they
that follow the Lamb withersoever he goeth. These were purchased from among men, to be
the first fruits unto God and unto the Lamb." According to the Jehovah's Witness doctrine
the "144,000" are to have the characteristics given in this passage: (1) purchased out of the
earth, purchased from the earth, purchased by the blood of the Lamb, they are the redeemed
(Rev. 5:9); (2) follow the Lamb withersoever he goeth; (3) purchased from among men, to
be the first fruits unto God and unto the Lamb; (4) they are not liars, they spoke the truth in
everything. Thus, we see ac-cording to the JW's doctrine that the "144,000" are a very special
group indeed. This group is indeed so special that not one single individual who lived in all
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of the 4000 year period of history from Adam until Jesus Christ will go to heaven. I wonder
what happened to Enoch who walked with God and I wonder what happened to Elijah who
went by whirlwind into heaven. I wonder what God will do with the Old Testament roll call
of worthies who are spoken on in Hebrews 11?
In The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life (pp. 114-116) the "144,00" are set forth as
the "true church" that Christ built (Matt. 16:18). It is noted that no one can "join" this church
simply by getting his name written on a membership role. The "true church" or "church of
the firstborn who are written in the heavens" (Heb. 12:23, NWT) can only be entered when
God selects you (1 Cor. 12:18). These are the ones who will be in heaven with Christ and
that number will be limited (it will not include all who profess to be Christians) to "144,000"
(Rev. 14:1-3; Lk. 12:32).
How Are They Selected?
"`Members of the little flock' know that God has called them to heavenly life. How?
By means of the operation of God's spirit, which implants and cultivates in them the hope of
heavenly life" (The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life, p. 78). Jehovah Witnesses believe that
God works on a per-son miraculously to make over or change completely a per-son's
thoughts, his attitudes, everything about him is radically different.
Thus he looks upon serving God as the primary thing in his life and, therefore is fitted
with the "heavenly hope" in him. Before one can tell whether he is in this condition he first
must arrive at an understanding of what the Bible teaches. Why? "Because God's holy spirit
that bears witness that one has been called to heavenly glory is the same spirit that directed
the writing of the Bible." In 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 the apostle Paul states, "But we are
bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of
the truth: Whereunto he called you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord
Jesus Christ." This passage is used to show that God does the choosing of the "144,000."
Those who are chosen must be willing to sacrifice relatives and friends and every earthly tie
to be able to go to heaven and participate in Christ's heavenly government as ''assistant kings
and under priests and to be a part of the "bride of Christ."
What Is Their Purpose?
Jehovah's Witnesses claim that God did not change his purpose for the earth or for
mankind because of Adam's sin. If God had done so he would have admitted inability to carry
out his original intent. His purpose has always been to have an earthly paradise populated
with perfect people. The thing that God changed was the governing structure that was to carry
out his purpose. As we have already seen, his Son Jesus Christ will be the head ruler and
"144,000" per-sons taken from among humankind to rule in heaven with him. These rulers
in heaven will make up the "new heavens" of God's new arrangement.
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In The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life (p. 115) we read, "They (144,000) are, indeed,
a group of persons called out from spiritual darkness for a special purpose. While here on
earth they boldly 'declare abroad the excellencies' of the Most High God, who called them
out of darkness into his wonderful light (1 Pet. 2:9). And, after their resurrection, they will
have the grand privilege of ruling with Christ in his heavenly kingdom (Lk. 22:28-30). 'Ye
are they which have continued with me in my temptations. And I appoint unto you a kingdom,
as my Father hath appointed unto me' (KJV)."
This special, elect group has been chosen extremely carefully by God, and they come
from people of every nation (Rev. 5:9-10), and from all walks of life; they are male and
female. Their lives take into perspective every problem mankind could have dealt with, thus
their qualifications for governing those left upon the earth. In Ephesians 4:22-24 -- "And that
ye put off concerning the former conservation the old man. Which is corrupt according to the
deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the Spirit of your mind; and that ye put on the new man,
which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. "And in 1 Corinthians 10:13
"There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is
faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it" (KJV). Thus, with the
"144,000" having done these things they become fit for the heavenly kingdom and eminently
qualified to rule with "King Christ Jesus" the "other sheep" that have attained unto salvation
upon a perfected earth or Paradise.
The "other sheep" will make up the new earth, the people over whom the "144,000"
will rule (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1-4). Included in them will be Job, David and John the Baptist,
all the faithful ones who lived before Christ, in addition to everyone who makes it through
the end of this "wicked system of things."
What Does the Scripture Say?
It has truly been a rewarding experience for me to study for the writing of this article.
There are many, many things not included because of space limitations. There are things
which I probably should have included and left out and things which probably have been
included, but which should have been left out. I pray that neither will be detrimental to our
understanding. This part of the Jehovah's Witnesses doctrine as well as all of it is filled with
subtle error, outright denial of God's eternal purpose, the inspiration of the Scriptures, and
the deity of Jesus Christ. Mixed with a little truth it becomes a powerful force for Satan which
has led many to spiritual condemnation and is responsible for many more walking that road
at present.
What Is The "144,000"?
The number "144,000" (Rev. 7:4; 14:1-3) is a figurative number standing for all of
God's redeemed people upon the earth. One of the most glaring errors of the Jehovah's
Witnesses is the misuse of literal and figurative language, and also the failure to use all that
the Bible teaches on a subject.
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In all of my reference sources on this subject there was no mention or use of the
"144,000" spoken of in Revelation 7:4-8 -- "And I heard the number of them which were
sealed.: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the
children of Israel. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben
were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe
of Asher were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Naphtali were sealed twelve thousand.
Of the tribe of Manasseh were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed
twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar
were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Zebulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the
tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve
thousand" (KJV).
From Homer Hailey's comments (An Introduction and Commentary on Revelation) I
quote, "The sum, a hundred forty and four thousand, does not designate a literal numerical
quantity, but is a symbolic figure. The most reasonable view is that twelve, the religious
number (see Introduction, "Numbers") multiplied by itself and then by one thousand,
indicating fullness of completeness, represents the total number of saints on earth at any given
time." If the number "144,000" is literal then the tribes are literal and that makes the
"144,000" all Jews, but we have already noted that Jehovah Witness doctrine states that the
"144,000" comes from out of every tribe, and nation, and peoples. The charter members of
the "144,000" were the Jews on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 and the Gentiles in Acts 10
(i.e. Cornelius and his household).
When we go to Revelation 14 we see that all Jewish make-up of a literal "144,000" is
further qualified by the requirements of verse 4 which states that they must be male and also
must be virgins. These are two qualifications that the Jehovah Witnesses either fail to mention
or they are ignorant of them. So, we see that the Bible defeats them at the very beginning of
their doctrine.
There is no select group of human beings taken from among men to be associate rulers
with "King Christ Jesus." In fact, from True Peace and Security (p. 69), "Among them are
people from all walks of life, men and women. " Jehovah's Witness doctrine contradicts the
Scriptures for they say that Peter will be in heaven, but the Scriptures say that the "144,000"
are male virgins, and Peter was a married man (The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life, p. 118).
"Peter is just one of the "144,000 living stones" making up the true church. " As the "144,000"
of Revelation 7, 14 is symbolic, so is the character of "not being defiled with women; for
they are virgins" (Rev. 14:4). This truly speaks of the character of the Christian; it speaks of
purity and holiness.
I had opportunity to study with a person in Arkansas who kept quoting John 5:39-40
to me, and though she used it in a right sense, she never applied it to herself. The Jehovah's
Witnesses need to apply it to themselves, "Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have
eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And you will not come to me, that ye might
have life."
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Dear ones, there is no select group of "144,000" that we must be a member of to go
to heaven, but there is a select group that we must be a member of and that is the church that
Christ built (Matt. 16:18); the church that people were added to in Acts 2:47 -- "Praising God,
and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as were
being saved. " To the kingdom of Colossians 1:13 -- ". . . and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son. "To the church which is the body of Christ (Eph. 1:23) -- "Which
is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." From the point of Acts 2:47 all who were
"obedient to the faith among all nations, for his name" (Rom. 1:5) were added by God to that
same church.
How Are They Selected?
Paul states in 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 -- "But we are bound to give thanks alway to
God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Whereunto he called
you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ" (KJV). God chose
all people to salvation that are willing to do his will. Jesus said in John 17:17 -- "Sanctify
them through thy truth, thy word is truth. " Is there a contradiction here? In one place Paul
says sanctification of the Spirit, in the other Jesus says that sanctification is through the word.
There is no contradiction for our sanctification takes place through the Holy Spirit
whose means of doing so is the word of Christ, the truth, the gospel. The Holy Spirit does
not act in some mysterious way apart from the word that we know- nothing about. The
sanctification of verse 13 is a "setting apart or consecrating for use. " Please read the cases
of conversion in the book of Acts. Each one agrees, all who come to God do so in the same
way, by the Holy Spirit through his instrument, the word of God.
God's Purpose For All Who Obey Him!
In Genesis 2 and 3 we learn of man's relationship with God, the fellowship that
existed, the perfect state that Adam and Eve lived in. We also learn of Satan, temptation, sin
and its consequences. The end of that perfect relationship, the separation that it caused
between God and man. Thus, there is a need for man to have a way back to God, the need for
reconciliation. The need for a redeemer, thus the unfolding of God's eternal purpose in Jesus
Christ. In 1 Timothy 2:4 -- Paul states, "Who will have all men to be saved, and to come to
unto the knowledge of the truth" (KJV).
The Jehovah's Witnesses would have us believe there is one will for "144,000" of
humankind and another will for all the rest, but Peter records these words in Acts 10:34-35 -
- "Of a truth I perceived that God is no respecter of persons: But in every nation he that
feareth him, and worketh righteousness is accepted with him" (KJV). This means that there
is one way to be chosen, one way to be saved, one way to work for God, one way to honor
him, one reward to receive from him. In 1 Peter 1:4, Peter stirs our hope for "an inheritance
incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you." It is God's
desire that all be saved; in this passage, we see that God's promise for us is reserved in heaven.
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In 2 Peter 3:13, Peter added "Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for a
new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness" (KJV).
God's purpose for all who are obedient to him is the "inheritance . . . reserved in
heaven for you. " In 2 Peter 3:13 he says the very same thing, that there is a new place for
the redeemed, the saved, a new order of things which is what heaven will be to us.
God has given man "one hope"; it is a "living hope" (1 Pet. 1:3) through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The "hope" given by the doctrine of the "144,000"
of the Jehovah's Witnesses is a false hope of ruling with "King Jesus Christ. " The Scriptures
nowhere hold out for any man this kind of hope. Jesus Christ is the "Son of God with power"
(Rom. 1:4). He is the "brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and
upholding all things by the word of his power" (Heb. 1:3).
John states "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was God" (Jn. 1:1). In John 8:58 "Jesus said unto them, Verily, Verily I say unto you,
Before Abraham was, I am." Jesus is God with the same attributes, and characteristics as God
the Father; he is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. Jesus needs no human assistant
rulers, or associate rulers to help him do his work. The "144,000" of the Jehovah's Witnesses
do not exist. It is a false doctrine and is clearly exposed by the Scriptures. It makes the
Jehovah's Witnesses false teachers.
Guardian of Truth XXXVII: 8, p. 7-9
April 15, 1993.
Source: http://www.truthmagazine.com/archives/volume37/GOT037109.html
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QUESTIONS FROM READERS - WATCHTOWER ONLINE LIBRARY
(JW.org)
Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses take the number 144,000 mentioned in the book of
Revelation literally and not symbolically?
The apostle John wrote: “I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and
forty-four thousand.” (Revelation 7:4) In the Bible, the phrase “those who were sealed” refers
to a group of individuals who are chosen from among mankind to rule with Christ in heaven
over the coming Paradise earth. (2 Corinthians 1:21, 22; Revelation 5:9, 10; 20:6) Their
number, 144,000, is understood literally for several reasons. One is found in the immediate
context of Revelation 7:4.
After the apostle, John was told in vision about this group of 144,000 individuals, he
was shown another group. John describes this second group as “a great crowd, which no man
was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues.” This great crowd
refers to those who will survive the coming “great tribulation,” which will destroy the present
wicked world. —Revelation 7:9, 14.
Note, however, the contrast that John draws between verses 4 and 9 of Revelation
chapter 7. He states that the first group, “those who were sealed,” has a definite number.
However, the second group, “a great crowd,” is without a definite number. With that in mind,
it is logical to take the number 144,000 to be literal. If the number 144,000 were symbolic
and referred to a group that is actually numberless, the force of the contrast between those
two verses would be lost. Thus, the context strongly indicates that the number 144,000 must
be taken literally.
Various Bible scholars, past and present, reached the same conclusion—that is, the
number is literal. For instance, in commenting on Revelation 7:4, 9, British lexicographer
Dr. Ethelbert W. Bullinger observed some 100 years ago: “It is the simple statement of fact:
a definite number in contrast with the indefinite number in this very chapter.” (The
Apocalypse or “The Day of the Lord,” page 282) More recently, Robert L. Thomas, Jr.,
professor of New Testament at The Master’s Seminary in the United States, wrote: “The case
for symbolism is exegetically weak.” He added: “It is a definite number [at 7:4] in contrast
with the indefinite number of 7:9. If it is taken symbolically, no number in the book can be
taken literally.”—Revelation: An Exegetical Commentary, Volume 1, page 474.
Some argue that since Revelation contains highly symbolic language, all numbers
found in this book, including the number 144,000, must be symbolic. (Revelation 1:1, 4;
2:10) That conclusion, though, is clearly not correct. Granted, Revelation contains numerous
symbolic numbers, but it also includes literal numbers. For instance, John speaks of “the
twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:14) Clearly, the number
12 mentioned in this verse is literal, not symbolic. Further, the apostle John writes about “the
thousand years” of Christ’s reign. That number is also to be taken literally, as a careful
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consideration of the Bible shows. (Revelation 20:3, 5-7) Hence, whether a number in
Revelation is to be taken literally or symbolically depends on its background and setting.
The conclusion that the number 144,000 is literal and refers to a limited number of
individuals, a relatively small group when compared with the “great crowd,” also harmonizes
with other Bible passages. For instance, later in the vision that the apostle John receives, the
144,000 are described as those who “were bought from among mankind as firstfruits.”
(Revelation 14:1, 4) The expression “firstfruits” refers to a small representative selection.
Also, while Jesus was on earth, he spoke about those who will rule with him in his heavenly
Kingdom and called them a “little flock.” (Luke 12:32; 22:29) Indeed, those from among
mankind who will rule in heaven are few in comparison with those of mankind who will
inhabit the coming Paradise earth.
Hence, the context of Revelation 7:4 and related statements found elsewhere in the
Bible bear out that the number 144,000 is to be taken literally. It refers to those who will rule
in heaven with Christ over a paradise earth, which will be filled with a large and
undetermined number of happy people who worship Jehovah God. —Psalm 37:29.
Source: https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2004647
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THE MYSTERIOUS 144,000: WHO ARE THE 144,000 IN REVELATION AND
WHAT IS THEIR PURPOSE?
There is probably no part of Revelation that has been more abused than the first half
of chapter 7 which tells about 144,000 Jews being “sealed” as “bond-servants” of God. The
Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that a group of their founders and pioneers constitute this group.
Other cults claim they are the 144,000. Most mainline Christian commentators argue that this
group is symbolic of the Church.
How 144,000 Jews could be symbolic of the Church is beyond my comprehension.
This interpretation is a good example of the fanciful ideas that people seem to delight in
pulling out of Revelation. What would God have to do to convince us that He is speaking
about 144,000 Jews? He says they are Jews. Specifically, He calls them, “the sons of Israel”
(Revelation 7:4). He even enumerates them by their tribes, stating that 12,000 will come from
each tribe. Does He need to put a flashing neon sign in the sky that says, “I’m talking about
Jews!”?
Why are some Jewish tribes excluded from the 144,000?
This is an intriguing question. The list of tribes is certainly unusual. The original
twelve tribes included both Levi and Joseph. But normally, when the twelve tribes are listed
in the Bible, Levi — the priestly tribe — is not mentioned because its inheritance was the
Lord Himself (Deuteronomy 10:9). And Joseph’s name is usually dropped and then replaced
by his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh who were adopted by Jacob (Genesis 48:8-22). So,
Levi and Joseph are usually replaced by Ephraim and Manasseh, keeping the list at twelve.
In the listing in Revelation 7, the tribes of Dan and Ephraim are dropped and replaced
by Levi and Joseph to keep the list at twelve. Why? Well, no one knows for sure. My guess
is that Dan and Ephraim were dropped because they were the ones that led the children of
Israel into idolatry (Deuteronomy 29:18-21 and 1 Kings 12:25ff). It thus appears that the two
tribes responsible for luring others into idolatry will not be entrusted with sharing the Gospel
with others during the Tribulation.
But God’s grace in this matter is reflected at the end of Revelation when the
description of the new Jerusalem is given. Revelation 21:12 says the city will have twelve
gates and that each gate will be named after one of “the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.”
In Ezekiel 48:30-34 we are told which tribes will be included in this significant recognition.
They are the original twelve, including Levi and Joseph. That means one of the gates will be
named for the errant tribe of Dan, and both Manessah and Ephraim will be included under
Joseph’s name.
Are the 144,000 of Revelation 7 the same as the 144,000 portrayed in Revelation 14?
I believe they are. Why would the book introduce us to a totally different group of
144,000 people without telling us so?
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In his book, Revelation Illustrated and Made Plain, Tim LaHaye argues that the
144,000 in Revelation 14 are a group of Gentile Christians who have been converted during
the Tribulation and who have served the Lord with distinction before experiencing
martyrdom. He admits that this is interpretation puts him “in the minority among
commentators.”
The scene in Revelation 14 portrays 144,000 men standing on Mt. Zion with Jesus.
LaHaye contends that since this scene takes place in the middle of the Tribulation, and since
Jesus would not be standing on Mt. Zion in Jerusalem at that time, the reference to Mt. Zion
must be a symbolic reference to Heaven. So, he concludes that these are Gentiles who have
died for their faith and who are now in Heaven with Jesus.
I don’t think so. The first point I would make is that this scene is not in the middle of
the Tribulation. All of chapter 14 is a flash forward to the end of the Tribulation, giving the
reader a preview of what lies ahead, assuring him that Jesus will ultimately triumph. The
second point I would make is that the group is not in Heaven. They are on Mt. Zion in
Jerusalem where Jesus has returned to reign as King of kings. He has preserved them through
the Tribulation, and He is celebrating His victory with them. They are singing a song heard
from Heaven, a song which only they can sing (Revelation 14:2-3). Again, if this were a
different 144,000 from the 144,000 Jews mentioned in Revelation 7, I think the text would
tell us so.
What is the Purpose of the 144,000?
What is the role of these 144,000 Jews during the Tribulation? What is their purpose?
All the text says is that they will be “bond-servants of God” (Revelation 7:3).
But the context indicates that they will serve the Lord as evangelists. I say this because
their description is followed immediately by the description of “a great multitude which no
one can count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues” (Revelation 7:9).
John sees this great host of people in Heaven standing before the throne of God, and he asks
“Who are they, and from where have they come?” (Revelation 7:13). He is told that they are
people who have come out of the Great Tribulation who “have washed their robes and made
them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 7:14).
In other words, this multitude of Gentiles are those who accept Jesus after the Rapture
and who are martyred for their faith during the Tribulation.
Because they are placed adjacent to the 144,000 believing Jews, the implication is
that they are converted by the Jews during the Tribulation.
I once called Zola Levitt and asked his opinion on this matter. Zola is a Messianic
Jew who has a Bible prophecy ministry. When I asked if he believed that the 144,000 Jews
of Revelation 7 would serve as evangelists trying to convert the world to Jesus, he said, “Of
course! Why do you think the Lord has given us the kind of personality that we have?”
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I wasn’t about to touch that question with a ten foot pole, so I played dumb. “What
are you talking about?” I asked.
“Haven’t you ever noticed,” asked Zola, “that Jews are very pushy people?”
“Well yes,” I responded, “now that you mention it, I must say that I have.”
“Well,” said Zola, “God has given us that kind of personality so that we can be the
world’s greatest salesmen. And one day, during the Tribulation, 144,000 believing
Jews are going to use those skills to convert a great host of Gentiles to Jesus. We are
going to push people up against the wall and hold them by the throat until they say,
‘Jesus!’ Before the Tribulation is over, we are going to convert more people to Jesus
than you Gentiles have done in the past 2,000 years.”
All I could say was, “I hope you are right.”
Source: http://christinprophecy.org/articles/the-mysterious-144000/
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The 144,000
(Seventh-Day Adventist website)
The 144,000 are first mentioned in Revelation 7. Our previous post examined the seal
of God found here and we learned that harming of the Earth is held back until God’s servants
are sealed. John sees in vision that there are 144,000 that are sealed. Who are these 144,000?
To answer this, we have to take a step back to the beginnings of Israel. Remember,
Israel was the name given to Jacob when he had a conversion experience by wrestling with
the angel. Jacob meant “deceiver,” but Israel meant “May God prevail.” Exodus 4:22 reveals
that Israel was God’s son, His firstborn. With the covenant, God made with Abraham to raise
a nation, the children of Israel were to be a shining light to the world around them. They were
supposed to reveal God’s character to the world around them. Did they fulfill that ideal?
Unfortunately, they did not. Instead of standing out amongst the other cultures of the world,
they adopted the practices of those around them, sometimes going to even greater depths! He
delivered them from Egypt, was patient with them through the wilderness. He leads them
into the Promised Land and helped them conquer their enemies when they were up to the
task. He sent judges to lead them out of sin and deliver them from their enemies. And when
they rejected God as their leader, He was patient and continued working with them through
kings beginning with Saul and David. He sent prophets their way as they gradually descended
into more wickedness. He warned them they would be taken to Babylon as captives if they
did not repent. Unfortunately, that time came. But God did not reject His people.
In Daniel, we see God communicating with him regarding a final chance for the nation
of Israel to live up to its idea. Remember the Israelites made a covenant with God in Exodus
19:8 and 24:3,7 that they would do whatever God said. It was an agreement they signed up
for. Daniel’s vision in chapter 9 (see previous post) revealed that they would have 490 years
to come back to repentance: “70 weeks are determined upon your people and your holy city”
(v.24). What would happen if Israel did not turn back to God?
Matthew 21 tells a story of a master that lent out his vineyard to tenants. Servants that
the master subsequently sent were beaten and killed by the tenants, and they ultimately killed
the master’s son. In Matthew 21:43,44 we see that the tenants represented Israel, and God
the master. The kingdom of God had been given to Israel to care for and spread, but if they
did not live up to that ideal then it would be taken away from them as a nation and given to
another nation that would bear its fruit.
Remember shortly after Jesus’ birth an angel told Joseph and his family to flee to
Egypt (Matthew 2:15), to fulfill the prophecy that was mentioned in Hosea 11:1, where God
would call His son out of Egypt. Israel was the name given to one man who was victorious
in a spiritual battle, and then transferred to an entire nation that could also be victorious. In
Hosea we see that Jesus is also referred to as Israel. Jesus was also given the name of Israel
because he overcame in a spiritual battle. Throughout the book of Matthew, we see that Jesus
overcame where Israel failed. In the Old Testament (OT) Israel is called the true vine, in the
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New Testament (NT) Jesus is called the vine. In the OT Israel was called “My son, the
firstborn.” In the NT Jesus is the firstborn. Isaiah called Israel the seed of Abraham, in
Galatians, Jesus is called the seed of Abraham. In the OT Israel referred to a person as well
as his descendants, who were also Israel. In the NT, Jesus is shown as the new Israel, and His
followers are also Israel as well. Galatians 3:28,29 reveal that we are all one in Jesus. No
matter your background, you can be one with Jesus and be heirs of the promise. Romans 2
also supports this point.
The Jews in Jesus’ day prided themselves in biologically being Abraham’s
descendants, but Jesus said in John 8:39 if they really were Abraham’s children they would
do the works of Abraham. What did Abraham do? He believed, and it was reckoned to Him
as righteousness. Going back to the parable in Matthew 21 God sent His Son as a last chance
for the nation of Israel to turn to Him. What did they do? They killed His Son! They outright
rejected the Savior. This was the final chance. In Matthew 23:28 we see the final, ultimate
rejection. Israel had rejected God by choosing to kill His Son, therefore God rejected the
nation of Israel and left their house. This is why the end of the 70 weeks in Daniel 9 is
important, it signified the end of salvation through a literal Jewish nation by sending the
gospel to the Gentiles. The Jews were given the good news first, and they were to share it.
But they chose to stifle it. So the Gospel went to the gentiles, Jesus became a new Israel, and
His followers (no matter their nationality) can be a part of the spiritual nation of Israel.
Some say that in 1948 with the re-establishment of Israel that prophecy was fulfilled.
But while many cheered the creation of a homeland for the nationality there is no link
between this event and the spiritual nation of Israel that God is working through right now.
Remember Israel rejected God multiple times, until finally killing His Son. Therefore, God
rejected them.
When we come to Revelation 7 in vision we know this is referring to the spiritual
Israel, the nation that God has set up as those being descendants of Jesus, where anyone who
chooses to follow Him is a part of that nation. In Revelation 14 John is still looking and he
sees a lamb (representing Jesus remember), and with there were 144,000 with the Fathers
name written in their foreheads. Remember the forehead is the seat of thinking, so these
people have internalized God’s character. They were redeemed from the Earth – becoming
saints through the grace of Jesus Christ (ALONE). They were virgins. Not in the literal sense,
for God considers marriage honorable and the bed is holy and undefiled. Celibacy offers no
spiritual advantage. In Revelation, a woman represents a church, and we discussed that in
length. These people have not been defiled with the false teachings of other churches who do
not follow God’s will. They are spiritually pure. Remember John is in vision, and if
everything else is symbolic then it would stand that the 144,000 is also symbolic. The
mountain, the lamb, the virgins, and the name are all symbolic, the number is also symbolic.
The 144,000 are sealed with the seal of God, not marked with the mark of the beast.
They are fully surrendered to Jesus. They sing a new song (Rev 14:3) because they have had
a unique experience with Jesus. They are alive when Jesus comes again. They follow Jesus
wherever He goes. They had to be committed. God’s people today must be fully committed
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and ready to follow Him wherever He leads. 1 Peter 2:9 reveals that God’s people are chosen,
that they are a royal priesthood to proclaim God’s praises for pulling them out of darkness.
They stand out from the crowd, like the literal nation of Israel was supposed to do.
How would this look?
The Biblical description implies that these people will stick out like a sore thumb.
Their entertainment choices, lifestyle choices, spiritual choices, physical choices, and a host
of other choices will run counter to the accepted norm (which happens to keep changing by
the way).
The 144,000 is not a cutthroat competition to get into because there are limited spots
available. It is symbolic of the kind of people in the end time who will stand for God when
everything around them is falling. Like Enoch, they will have walked with God for so long
that the next natural step will be going to God’s home. They may face the laughter of others,
but in heaven’s eyes they are getting ready for a different future.
We want to be a part of the 144,000. We want to completely surrender our lives to
Jesus, knowing that we will continue to fall but the closer we draw to Jesus, the less likely it
will happen. And we long for the day when there will be no more separation between God
and man.
Do you want to be a part of the 144,000?
April 26, 2016 – Seventh-Day Adventist
Source: http://uchurchsda.com/2016/04/the-144000/
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The Mark of The Beast
THE MARK OF
THE BEAST
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. This mark acts as a seal for the followers of Antichrist and the false prophet (the
spokesperson for the Antichrist).
2. The mark is literally placed in the hand or forehead and is not simply a card
someone carries.
3. It is possible that the technology we are seeing today represents the beginning
stages of what may eventually be used as the mark of the beast.
4. the number 666 identifies a person, not a date.
Doctrine Defeated.
1. The “mark of the beast" in Revelation 13:16-18 appears as the antithesis of the “seal
of God" in chapter 7.
2. Just as God sealed his people, placing upon them his stamp of approval, so a mark
is placed upon the servants of the beasts.
3. The specific reference in Revelation 13 is to these certificates which served to identify
those who performed the required acts of worship to the Roman gods and specifically
to the image of the emperor of Rome.
4. This certificate was the “mark of the beast.”
5. It stood in direct opposition to the “seal" of God which served to identify those who
worshiped God.
6. One cannot ignore the symbolism of the book of Revelation (1:1).
7. Given the context, one cannot conclude that this is something yet to be fulfilled, but
something that the churches of Asia were dealing in those days under the Roman
Empire.
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True
TRUE
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THE MARK OF THE BEAST
(Cecil May Jr.)
“The Mark of the Beast” is from the book of Revelation, as we usually call it. The
full and inspired title is “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” (Rev. 1:1). [All Scripture references
are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted.] Too often it is mistakenly called
Revelations. There is one Revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ. It is both from him and
about him.
UNDERSTANDABLE?
Contrary to the idea of some, Revelation is intended to be understood. Those who
read, hear and keep its words are blessed (Rev. 1:3). It is, however, written in imagery, in
figurative language.
“Revelation” is a translation of the Greek word, apocalupsis which means, “an
unveiling,” or, as translated, “a revelation.” The book is also called The Apocalypse.
Apocalyptic language is language like that used in Revelation, relating visions of beasts,
dragons, falling stars, and cataclysmic judgments. Apocalyptic language is adopted when the
writer or speaker is predicting the judgment of God on evil peoples, powers persecuting
God’s people, or, sometimes, even on God’s own people because of their rebellion and sin.
In addition to Revelation, there are other apocalyptic passages throughout the Bible.
There are also Jewish apocalyptic books which were written during the period
beginning with the close of the Old Testament and continuing into the New Testament era.
These are also known as pseudepigraph (false writings) because they claim to have been
written by prominent Old Testament characters when, in fact, they were not. Though not God
breathed, these books do help as we seek to understand the meaning of apocalyptic language.
Apocalyptic language is a kind of code, designed to hide the message from the people
against whom the judgment of the book is directed, while making the message known to
God’s people for their comfort.
Considering the book of Revelation in that light, it can be readily understood how a
people familiar with the Old Testament, remembering Babylon as a conquering, persecuting
power, and being persecuted by Rome even as the book is received, could read of God’s
judgment being poured out on “Babylon,” and think of God judging and punishing Rome,
while Romans reading it dismiss the whole thing as irrelevant an ancient history.
“FEEL” THE VISION
A mistake often made in studying and teaching Revelation is pressing every detail of
every vision for some specific meaning. The opening words of the book (1:1) state that it
concerns things “which must shortly take place,” and that they have been “signified” by
God’s angel to John. The word translated “signified” (“sign-i-fied”) means “shown by signs.”
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Revelation was almost certainly written about the time of the attempt by the Roman
emperor Domitian to make everyone in the empire offer sacrifice to him as god. The vision
of Christ in chapter one, of one like the “Son of Man” of Daniel’s prophecies, fearsome in
his aspect, walking in the midst of the seven churches of Asia holding their messengers in
his hand, effectively comforts those churches in their affliction.
Is the court of the Emperor of Rome imposing and terror-inducing? Look at the
awesome majesty of the court of God in Revelation 4! Do the prime ministers of Rome invoke
fear as they parade their power? Look at the Lamb in Revelation 5. Not, this time, a mute,
suffering, sacrificial Lamb, but the Lamb with seven horns, the Lion of the tribe of Judah,
the One who is worthy to open the seals of the book! Opening the seals means executing
God’s vengeance against the persecutors and murders of the people of God (Rev. 6).
As these visions continue, there is a beast rising up out of the sea (Rev. 13:1) and a
second beast coming up out of the earth (Rev. 13:11). The beast out of the earth enforces the
decree that the beast out of the sea is to be worshiped (Rev. 13:15).
He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark
on their right hand or on their foreheads, and that no one may buy or sell except one
who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom.
Let him who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number
of a man. His number is 666 (Rev. 13:16-18).
The post office zip code for Sardis, Mississippi is 38666. When my son Cecil III was
preaching there, he was often reminded that he was preaching under the “mark of the beast.”
When he moved from Sardis to preach on Grand Cayman Island, he presumed he would be
getting away from all the jokes about 666 and the mark of the beast, but when he arrived in
Cayman, the license plate on the church’s van was 666 6.
Many are quite superstitious about 666. When bar codes, the pattern of lines and
spaces on the products we buy, were first being put on everything, it was reported that every
bar code had a hidden 666 in it and that this was the “mark of the beast.” “No one may buy
or sell except one who has the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name”
(Rev. 13:17).
About the time I was born, Franklin Roosevelt instituted the National Recovery
Administration (NRA), later declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Roosevelt
thought it would help the nation recover from the devastating depression. Businesses which
cooperated with the NRA, were given a blue emblem with a flying eagle on it for display.
Citizens were encouraged to trade with those displaying it. Not surprisingly, the NRA eagle
was often said to be the mark of the beast. Within my memory, the rationing stamps issued
by the Office of Price Administration (OPA) during the second World War were said to be
the mark of the beast.
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The passage in Revelation, though, is describing a time when everyone, including
Christians, were commanded to worship the Roman emperor, who claimed to be a god.
Offering sacrifice to the emperor and calling him “Lord” were considered patriotic gestures
as well as religious ones, and those who refused were suspect, considered disloyal, or even
traitors.
Undoubtedly, the Romans had some means of identifying those who had complied
with the order. Perhaps something like a certificate was given to those who made the required
sacrifice, and only those who could show the certificate were allowed to buy or sell or
conduct business.
The mark is said to be placed “on their right hand or on their foreheads.” Perhaps that
only signifies “in a conspicuous place.” Or it may reflect a comparison with the Jewish
custom of wearing phylacteries. Moses had commanded concerning the words of the law,
“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your
eyes” (Deut. 6:8). Of the Pharisees, Jesus said, “They make their phylacteries broad and
enlarge the borders of their garments” (Mt. 23:5). So it was fairly common at least for Jews
to wear a “mark” that indicated their relationship to God. The “mark of the beast” would
stand in contrast to that.
666
Here is wisdom. Let him who has understanding count the number of the beast, for it
is the number of a man, and his number is six hundred- sixty-six (Rev. 13:18).
Many students of Revelation believe this beast is Nero and that 666 is one of the
indicators of that. Nero was the first of the Roman emperors known to be involved in
persecuting the church. Nero’s persecution seems to have been confined to Rome itself and
it is difficult to find evidence that it was extended vigorously into the provinces, such as Asia,
to whom Revelation is addressed. Due to its ferocity and violence, however, it continues to
be remembered with horror, and the man himself was “beastly” enough for the figure to fit.
There was also a popular myth that Nero would be revived and that he, or at least
another emperor with his vindictive spirit, would reign. Others believed he did not really die
and would return with an army to reestablish his reign. Many see a reference to these popular
expectations in the fact that the beast from the sea received a “deadly wound” which “was
healed” (Rev. 13:3).
One poplar means of interpreting 666 is to count letters as numbers. Greek, like other
classical languages, has no symbols for numbers, so letters serve that purpose. One of my
college teachers, whom I greatly admired, and whose overall understanding of Revelation is,
I believe, correct, was demonstrating on the board how Nero Caesar, written in Hebrew, is
666 when the letters are given their numeric value. In Hebrew letters, Neron (objective case)
is spelled nun, resh, vau, nun; Caesar is spelled koph, samech, resh. The numeric value of
nun is 50 (appears twice), of resh is 200, of vau is 6; the value of koph is 100, of samech is
60, and of resh is 200. All these added together make 666.
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However, like many of my teachers of that era, this teacher used the American
Standard Version. It has a footnote indicating some ancient manuscripts have 616 instead of
666. He pointed that out and, unperturbed, proceeded to show that, if the name is in the
nominative case rather than the objective, that is, if one uses Nero rather than Neron, Nero
Caesar is 616. That began my skepticism about the letter-number system. It is too readily
manipulated to mean whatever one wants it to mean.
Those who follow the view that Revelation is church history from the time of the
apostles until now, written in advance as prophecy, show how various titles claimed by the
Roman Catholic Pope add up to 666. Catholics demonstrate that the same thing can be done
with the name Martin Luther.
The beast from the sea is, in the premillennial scheme of things, “the Antichrist,”
whom they are expecting to come onto the scene shortly and initiate the conflict that will
become the “Battle of Armageddon.” Some years ago, during the Richard Nixon presidency,
I received a mailing that argued very seriously, at great length and with pretensions of
“scholarly” research, that Henry Kissenger was the Antichrist. His name, too, was shown to
equal 666.
The name of virtually every significant character on the stage of recent history, from
Hitler to Muammar Qadhafi, has been proposed to be the Antichrist. Almost anyone’s name
can be made, in some language, to add up to 666.
After I had written something like this a few years ago, Dr. Hugo McCord wrote me
to say that one of his students at Oklahoma Christian had worked out a chart showing that
Hugo McCord was 666, and therefore the Antichrist! Dr. McCord said the Antichrist gave
the student an “F.” That which can be made to prove anything proves nothing.
A better approach for understanding 666, it seems to me, lies in the symbolism of
numbers. Seven in Revelation, it is generally agreed, has the symbolic significance of
perfection, completeness or, even, deity. Our text says 666 is the number of the persecuting
power, and it is “the number of a man” (“a human number,” RSV). So, seven is the number
of deity; six the number of humanity. Seven is the number of perfection; six the number of
that which falls short of perfection.
Six-hundred-sixty-six may suggest, then, that this beast is not divine and will not
successfully complete the task of the destruction of the church. He is not “holy, holy, holy,”
as is our God. He is not 7, 7, 7; divine, divine, divine; perfect, perfect, perfect. He is 6, 6, 6.
He falls short of being the “god” he claims to be.
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “At His Coming” - 1998, Carroll B. Ellis: The
Antichrist. Pages 278-282.
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THE MARK OF THE BEAST AND THE 144,000
(Donald R. Taylor)
Men have for ages debated the subject for this hour. What is the “mark of the beast"?
Who are the “144,000"? It is probable that the churches began searching for an explanation
for these symbols as soon as they read the book of Revelation. I believe that it is very likely
that many people were able to understand quite accurately what these things meant, although
they may not have been able to explain everything. Nor was it necessary to understand
everything, since if it were, we might as well stop the presses now and give up, for we
certainly cannot explain everything to everybody’s satisfaction.
The two subjects, “The mark of the beast” and “the 144,000,” may not at first glance
appear to be closely related, but they really are, and must be treated together. The vision of
the sealing of the 144,000 (Rev. 7) concerns the marking of God’s people by God, for the
purpose of identifying them. The seal of God, visibly placed upon them, will serve to preserve
them from ultimate defeat and from the power of Satan and the False Prophet (Rev. 9:4). On
the other hand, the “mark of the beast" (Rev. 13:16) serves to identify the servants of the
beast, those who, by one means or another, have been led to worship the beast. Just as it is
clear who God’s servants are, so it is plain who the servants of the beast are.
The 144,000
We will begin by studying the 144,000, since this subject comes first in the
Revelation. The vision is described in Revelation 721-9. As the scene unfolds, we see four
angels standing to the north, south, east, and west, facing each other. They are holding back
the winds so that these winds will not harm anything until God has placed his seal on his
servants. The seal is placed on the forehead of each individual, a visible place so that all may
know that these people belong to God and are approved by him.
The number of people who are sealed by God is 144,000, and we hear the angel call
out the number from each tribe of Israel, twelve thousand from each tribe. The 144,000 are
obviously meant to be taken as Jews since John specifically states that they are from each of
the twelve tribes of Israel. Ephraim and Dan are not included because these tribes had gone
into idolatry, and they are thus symbolically excluded from the sealed children of God. This
multitude must be viewed in its relationship to the “great multitude” of Revelation 7:9-17,
which “no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues" if we
are to properly understand the 144,000.
Some religious groups such as Jehovah’s Witnesses have a special view of the
144,000, teaching that these are they who will be saved in heaven. while all the other saved
will remain on a renovated earth after the return of Christ. Such views I consider to be without
foundation, and thus pass them by in this study.
Various other serious commentators, however, have advanced views which we should
notice carefully.
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J. W. Roberts says the 144,000 “must represent the whole church of the New
Testament as spiritualized Israel, “servant-martyrs still on earth and subject to the
wrath of the coming judgments (from which they are sealed) and facing martyrdom.”
Albert Barnes favors the interpretation that these are the saved in the “Christian
Church” and not from among the Jews.
Foy Wallace believes the 144,000 “stood for the new Israel,”4 and is “the nucleus of
the New Israel” which is “expanded” into the innumerable multitude.
Jim McGuiggan says, “They are Christians,”6 the “same group” as the innumerable
multitude, but viewed “from a different direction.”7
Homer Hailey says the 144,000 “probably represent the active faithful church on earth
at any time." The great multitude represents the same saints who come out of “the
conflict victorious” and are thus pictured before the throne of God.
John T. Hinds says that it “evidently refers to those who were to be sealed (saved)
from fleshly Israel.”
While 1 do not quarrel with the view of these scholars who say the two multitudes are
the church seen under different perspectives, for it is a logical view and does not contradict
the tenor of the Revelation, 1 still see the two multitudes as different. The 144,000 are sealed;
the great multitude is not. The 144,000 are from the tribes of Israel; the great multitude is
from every tribe, tongue, and nation. I think that a progression may be seen here, from those
worthies of Old Testament times who kept faith with God through trying circumstances, to
those of New Testament times who would be called upon to imitate their faith. The writer of
Hebrews follows this procedure, detailing a list of those who through faith suffered
mockings, scourgings, prison, stoning, exile-people “of whom the world was not worthy”
(Heb. 11:38). We are compassed about with those who though dead are still “witnesses” of
our behavior under similar circumstances (Heb. 1221-2). How will we fare? Will we be
faithful? Will we endure?
The fact that the twelve tribes of Revelation 7 do not follow the normal listing does
not invalidate this approach, for the two tribes which are omitted (Dan and Ephraim) are
omitted because of idolatry. The omission is purely symbolic, to show that God seals
(approves) only the faithful.
The saved from fleshly Israel are spoken of as a closed group. The Mosaic period was
over and done, so the saved from that period are represented as a fixed number (although 144
,000 is a symbolic number and does not mean that only that number were saved).
On the contrary, however, the great multitude is an open group. The Christian era was
only beginning when John wrote the Revelation, and the gospel was resulting in the
conversion of men and women from every nation, tribe, and tongue, instead of only from the
Jews. Many of these believers were giving up their lives by faith, and the size of the great
multitude was constantly growing as martyrs came Victoriously out of the “great tribulation."
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The two great multitudes taken together would, therefore, encompass all the saved of
all the ages. The 144,000 seem to represent those who were saved from among the Jews,
before Christ came. The great numberless multitude would represent those who are saved
after the cross.
Why are those of the second multitude not sealed as were the first? Perhaps because
the number is not yet complete. But they stand approved before God the same as do the
144,000. They are also clothed with white robes, washed in the blood of the Lamb (Rev.
729,14).
The winds which the four angels (Rev. 7:1) are holding back represent punishment
against those who persecute God‘s people. For as soon as the 144,000 are sealed and the
numberless multitude is comforted by the Lamb of God, the seven angels prepare to sound
their trumpets (Rev. 8:2, ff). The seven trumpets, like the seven bowls (Rev. 16:1,ff), are
judgments on those who persecute the righteous. These symbols say the same thing Paul said
to the Thessalonians: “It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that
trouble you” (2 Thess. 1:6).
The Mark of the Beast
The “mark of the beast" in chapter 13 appears as the antithesis of the “seal of God" in
chapter 7. Just as God sealed his people, placing upon them his stamp of approval, so a mark
is placed upon the servants of the beasts, to identify them. Let us describe the scene of
Revelation 13.
Two wild beasts appear in this chapter. The first one bears such a re semblance to the
fourth beast of Daniel 7 that it is almost universally agreed that this beast is the Roman
imperial power. This beast has seven heads and ten horns (Rev. 13:1). The horns are
identified as ten kings of Rome, the same as in Daniel 7. I believe the seven heads of the
beast to be simply seven of the ten kings: Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero,
Vespasian, and Titus. The other three (bringing the number to ten) are Galba, Otho, and
Vitellius, whose combined reigns lasted less than a year, and are, therefore, not to be
reckoned as heads.
Since the Roman emperors had been deified following the death of Augustus, there
was a slowly growing concept of them as gods. Caligula, just two years before being
assassinated, attempted to have his statue erected and worshiped in the Jewish temple at
Jerusalem. He was not successful. Domitian would later openly declare that he was “dominus
et deus" (Lord and God), making it a law that all men must worship his image. This is actually
the significance of Revelation 13. The beast is Rome, personified by the emperor. All
methods would be used to persuade people to worship the emperor or his image. False
prophets as well as the priests who were ordained to the emperorcult would perform lying
wonders before the people to persuade them.
Of course, these methods would have no effect on the Christians, so other means
would be employed against them. If they refused to perform the prescribed worship acts, they
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would be killed, or at least prohibited from providing for their families. They would not be
allowed to buy or sell in the market places (Rev. 13:15-17).
According to William Barclay, “The first temple to be erected to the godhead of the
emperor was built in Pergamum in 29 B.C.”l1 An allusion to this temple appears in
Revelation 2:13, “I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s seat
(throne) is: and thou holdest fast my name, and hast not denied my faith, even in those days
wherein Antipas was my faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth.”
It is possible that Antipas was martyred in connection with emperor worship.
Domitian, who came to the throne of Rome in 81 A.D., made Caesar worship
compulsory. He demanded to be addressed as “Lord and God,” a title which all the emperors
claimed, but which few had taken so seriously. Barclay says that “A world-wide organization
was built up; and once a year every Roman citizen was compelled to burn a pinch of incense
to the godhead of Caesar and to say: ‘Caesar is Lord.’ ”‘2 Those who came to offer the
incense requested the annual certificate. Barclay quotes the contents of one such request.
To those who have been appointed to preside over the sacrifices. from Inares Akeus,
from the village of Theoxenis, together with his children Aias and Hera, who reside in the
village of Theadelphia. We have always sacrificed to the gods, and now, in your presence,
according to the regulations, we have sacrificed and offered libations, and tasted the sacred
things, and we ask you to give us a certification that we have done so. May you fare well.13
The certificate which was given in response to this request read: “We, the
representatives of the emperor, Serenos and Herrnas, have seen you sacrificing.”
After Domitian’s assassination in 96 A.D., things became calmer, but sporadic
persecution continued. Pliny the Younger, governor of Bithynia, wrote to the emperor Trajan
(after 112 AD.) asking his advice in dealing with Christians. Pliny systematically executed
Christians who “obstinately” refused to denounce Christ. He mentions several accused
persons who were brought before him, whom he ordered to “invoke the gods.” Part of his
letter to Trajan reads as follows:
At my dictation they invoked the gods and did reverence with incense and wine to
your image, which I had ordered to be brought for this purpose along with the statues of the
gods; they also cursed Christ; and as I am informed that people who are really Christians
cannot possibly be made to do any of these things, I considered that the people who did them
should be discharged. '5
When Decius became emperor (249-251), he decided that there would be only one
religion in the empire. Christianity must therefore be stamped out. In order to cause the rank
and file of Christians to apostatize, Decius published an edict to the effect “that everyone in
the Empire must sacrifice to the state gods and get a certificate to say that he had done so.
This edict was plainly aimed at the Christians . . ." Those who gave in to this pressure and
sacrificed were called “libellatieii,” from the certificates or libel/t, as they were called. Many
who had become Christians during the more peaceful times now found the going tough and,
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if they did not sacrifice to the gods, purchased certificates on the black market from willing
officials or friendly Romans. Philip Schaff, the noted historian, says,
In the execution of the imperial decree confiscation, exile, torture, promises and
threats of all kinds, were employed to move the Christians to apostasy. Multitudes of nominal
Christians, especially at the beginning, sacrificed to the gods (sacrificati, thurijicati), or
procured from the magistrate a false certificate that they had done so (libellatici), and were
then excommunicated as apostates (lapsi); while hundreds rushed with impetuous zeal to the
prisons and the tribunals, to obtain the confessor’s or martyr’s crown."I
It seems, therefore, clear that the specific reference in Revelation 13 is to these
certificates which served to identify those who performed the required acts of worship to the
Roman gods and specifically to the image of the emperor of Rome. This certificate was the
“mark of the beast.” It stood in direct opposition to the “seal" of God which served to identify
those who worshiped God.
In conclusion, just as God’s faithful were “sealed," or given God’s “stamp of
approval,” in those first centuries of the Christian era, so are we “sealed" of God today. The
apostle Paul wrote to Timothy: “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having
this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of
Christ depart from iniquity” (2 Tim. 2:19). Just as in those days, so also today the child of
God is recognized by his faithfulness to God, his refusal to worship the false god, and by the
purity of his life.
of Last Things.” Donald R. Taylor: The Mark of the Beast and the 144,000. Pages 190-194.
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THE TWO “BEASTS” OF REVELATION 13
(Wayne Jackson)
What do the two “beasts” depicted in Revelation 13 represent? The first comes up out
of the sea (v. 1). The second rises from the earth (v. 11). And what is the meaning of not
being able to “buy or sell” without the “mark” of the beast (vv. 16-17)?
In his commentary, The Book of Revelation, Robert Mounce contends that these
“beasts” are “two agents through whom Satan carries out his war against believers” (1998,
243). That is beyond dispute. It is the identity of those beasts that is open to some controversy.
The First Beast
As I observed in my book, Revelation: Jesus Christ’s Final Message of Hope, the first
beast of Revelation 13, rising out of the sea, is virtually unanimously acknowledged to be a
symbol of the persecuting force of political Rome’s power against the early Christians.
Mounce contends: “There is little doubt that for John the beast was the Roman Empire as
persecutor of the church” (1998, 246). The late brother J. W. Roberts wrote: “It seems clear
that the first beast represents Imperial Rome” (1974, 108). Similar comments could be
multiplied many times over.
By way of contrast, this beast is not the so-called “Antichrist,” as alleged by those of
the premillennial persuasion (see: John MacArthur 2005, 2017). There is no solitary ominous
person known as “the Antichrist” in biblical literature (cf. 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:3; 2 John 7).
The Second Beast
The issue then becomes: what is symbolized by the second beast that arises out of the
earth? This evil force clearly is distinguished from the sea beast, being designated as
“another” beast (v. 11). The term “another” (allos) suggests, however, another of a similar
devilish character.
Scholars who have not been influenced by Catholicism’s brand of “preterism” (an
interpretation that does not reach in scope beyond Imperial Rome), contend that the second
beast most significantly represented the fomenting apostate church (that is a church that had
digressed from the primitive pattern of Christianity; cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:1ff; 1 Timothy
4:1ff; 2 Timothy 4:1ff).
This was a movement consisting of an amalgamation of pagan Rome, and the corrupt
church (a mixture of degenerate Christianity and heathen religion). These varying elements
eventually evolved into the system known today as Catholicism (in its three prominent
modern forms—Roman, Greek Orthodox, and Anglican).
Burton Coffman identified the second beast as a mixture, first of “paganism, then as
apostate Christianity and the derivatives of it” (1979, 447). He contended that those who
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cannot see an apostate church in the imagery of the book of Revelation are afflicted with an
exegetical “astigmatism.”
This movement was one of the most vicious persecuting forces of the ancient world.
That era specifically known as the Middle Ages, a period that spanned about a thousand
years, beginning with the fall of Rome in A.D. 476, overflowed with the blood of those
martyred by the corrupt Church of Rome.
For example, the Massacre of St. Bartholomew’s Day, which occurred August 24,
1572, involved the slaughter of between ten and twenty thousand Protestants throughout
France. When the news of the bloodbath reached Rome, the Pope ordered a Te Deum [a
hymn of praise] to be sung (Fisher 1890, 339).
The “Mark” of the Beast
How, then, does Revelation 13:17 fit into this interpretation? This text, employing
powerful symbolism, speaks of the dire hardships that would be imposed by the beast upon
those determined to remain faithful to Christ.
Those who yielded to the false philosophy of this political-religious beast were
identified by a “mark” upon their right hand, or upon their forehead. This picture language
appears to identify those who had given either mental assent, or extended the right hand of
fellowship (cf. Galatians 2:9), to this evil conglomerate power. These compromisers thus
were able to prosper economically. By way of contrast, those who received not the mark were
unable to buy or sell, hence suffered hardship, illustrated in the form of economic deprivation.
This latter fate certainly is documented during the “dark ages” (considered by
Catholicism as her “golden era”). After the fall of pagan Rome, an era developed known in
history as the Dark Ages (or as indicated above, also called the Middle Ages). The evolving
Roman church became a powerful, negative force in this period. With the rise of the
Protestant Reformation, Catholicism’s evil influence was neutered significantly.
Source: Jackson, Wayne. "The Two "Beasts" of Revelation 13." ChristianCourier.com.

Access date: May 7, 2017. https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/1413-two-beasts-of-
revelation-13-the
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WHAT IS THE MARK OF THE BEAST?
(GotQuestions.org)
Question: "What is the mark of the beast?"

Answer: The main passage in the Bible that mentions the “mark of the beast” is
Revelation 13:15-18. Other references can be found in Revelation 14:9, 11, 15:2, 16:2, 19:20,
and 20:4. This mark acts as a seal for the followers of Antichrist and the false prophet (the
spokesperson for the Antichrist). The false prophet (the second beast) is the one who causes
people to take this mark. The mark is literally placed in the hand or forehead and is not simply
a card someone carries.
The recent breakthroughs in medical implant chip and RFID technologies have
increased interest in the mark of the beast spoken of in Revelation chapter 13. It is possible
that the technology we are seeing today represents the beginning stages of what may
eventually be used as the mark of the beast. It is important to realize that a medical implant
chip is not the mark of the beast. The mark of the beast will be something given only to those
who worship the Antichrist. Having a medical or financial microchip inserted into your right
hand or forehead is not the mark of the beast. The mark of the beast will be an end-times
identification required by the Antichrist in order to buy or sell, and it will be given only to
those who worship the Antichrist.
Many good expositors of Revelation differ widely as to the exact nature of the mark
of the beast. Besides the implanted chip view, other speculations include an ID card, a
microchip, a barcode that is tattooed into the skin, or simply a mark that identifies someone
as being faithful to the Antichrist's kingdom. This last view requires the least speculation,
since it does not add any more information to what the Bible gives us. In other words, any of
these things are possible, but at the same time they are all speculations. We should not spend
a lot of time speculating on the precise details.
The meaning of 666 is a mystery as well. Some speculated that there was a connection
to June 6, 2006—06/06/06. However, in Revelation chapter 13, the number 666 identifies a
person, not a date. Revelation 13:18 tells us, “This calls for wisdom. If anyone has insight,
let him calculate the number of the beast, for it is man's number. His number is 666.”
Somehow, the number 666 will identify the Antichrist. For centuries Bible interpreters have
been trying to identify certain individuals with 666. Nothing is conclusive. That is why
Revelation 13:18 says the number requires wisdom. When the Antichrist is revealed (2
Thessalonians 2:3-4), it will be clear who he is and how the number 666 identifies him.
Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/mark-beast.html
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What Does 666 Mean?
(JW.org)
The Bible’s answer

According to the last book in the Bible, 666 is the number, or name, of the wild beast
with seven heads and ten horns that comes out of the sea. (Revelation 13:1, 17, 18) This beast
is a symbol of the worldwide political system, which rules over “every tribe and people and
tongue and nation.” (Revelation 13:7) The name 666 identifies the political system as a gross
failure in God’s sight. How?
More than a label. Names given by God have meaning. For example, God gave the man
Abram, which means “Father Is High (Exalted),” the name Abraham, which means “Father
of a Crowd (Multitude),” when God promised that He would make Abraham “a father of
many nations.” (Genesis 17:5, footnotes) Likewise, God named the beast 666 as a symbol of
its defining attributes.
The number six implies imperfection. Often, numbers are used as symbols in the Bible.
Seven typically represents completeness or perfection. Six, being one short of seven, can
denote something incomplete or flawed in God’s eyes, and it can be associated with God’s
enemies. —1 Chronicles 20:6; Daniel 3:1.
Three times for emphasis. The Bible sometimes stresses a matter by stating it three times.
(Revelation 4:8; 8:13) So the name 666 powerfully emphasizes that God views human
political systems as gross failures. They have been unable to bring lasting peace and
security—things that only God’s Kingdom will achieve.
The mark of the beast
The Bible says that people receive “the mark of the wild beast” because they follow
it “with admiration,” to the point of worshipping it. (Revelation 13:3, 4; 16:2) They do this
by giving worshipful honor to their country, its symbols, or its military might. As The
Encyclopedia of Religion states: “Nationalism has become a dominant form of religion in
the modern world.”
How is the mark of the beast placed on someone’s right hand or forehead? (Revelation
13:16) Regarding his commands to the nation of Israel, God said: “Bind them as a reminder
on your hand, and they should be like a headband on your forehead.” (Deuteronomy 11:18)
This meant, not that the Israelites were to mark their literal hands and foreheads, but that
God’s words would guide all their actions and thoughts. Likewise, rather than being
something literal such as a 666 tattoo, the mark of the beast symbolically identifies those who
let the political system rule their lives. Those with the mark of the beast place themselves in
opposition to God. —Revelation 14:9, 10; 19:19-21.
Source: https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/what-does-666-mean/
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(Seventh-Day Adventist website)
On August 17, 1999, a great earthquake rocked the nation of Turkey, claiming
thousands of lives. Contractors that were once rich became poor in a few minutes. Further
inspection of the buildings that crumbled revealed that the contractors had cut corners to erect
the buildings. As a result, they were not up to code. From the outside everything looked
inhabitable and safe. It was not until the shaking that the true nature of the buildings came to
light.
Prophecy points to a symbolic shaking, where a prophetical shaking will reveal the
true nature of everyone’s allegiance. Like the parable of the house on the rock and sand, the
storm will reveal the strength of the structures. Right now everything seems fine, and it may
be indistinguishable between what is strong and weak. But like the parable of the wheat and
tares, the separation will not occur until the harvest.
Before launching into our recap, we want to remind you that the book of Revelation
is not meant to scare you. It is meant to empower you by revealing what is coming down the
road so you can be prepared. The ultimate end of it all is living with Jesus. But before that
happens everyone will be shaken. There is no need to worry if you have accepted Jesus and
are committed to following Him wherever He leads you. But it can be frightening for those
who are not ready. This lecture explored the Mark of the Beast.
Revelation 14:9,10 tells us about the mark. We learn that whoever receives it is
against God and will have to digest God’s wrath. The end for those who have the mark does
not look good.
Now some people will argue that that the mark of the beast is 666. Unfortunately, this
a confusing conclusion and it is not as clear cut as a number. This comes from Revelation
13:18, which reveals that the number of the beast is 666. The number is not the mark.
Superstition surrounds those whose receipts total $6.66 or when they reach 666 miles on a
road trip, among other things. However, all we know about 666 is that it is related to the
beast, but the Bible points out this is a number.
We already know who the beast is (see the post), so we know the number 666 is
associated with the beast. Some say that Vicarius Filii Dei, a Latin title for the head of the
Vatican meaning Vicar for the Son of God, is the mark of the beast. If you take the roman
numerals of that name and add it together it adds to 666. This may seem coincidental, your
name might add up to 666. That is why we cannot rely on any one characteristic, but take all
of the traits outlined in prophecy and let the Bible show us what it is trying to communicate.
In Revelation 13:4,8 we saw the beast was healed from its wound and that everyone
worshipped him. Everyone, that is, except the people who were in the book of life. These are
the people that chose to worship God, as Revelation 14:7 says. Those with the mark of the
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beast are on the receiving end of God’s wrath. Contrast this with what is said in Revelation
7:3, where God will not send harm upon the Earth until His people have been sealed.
Seal? In Bible times a seal revealed that a law was valid. When the king passed a law
his seal was placed on it, making it legitimate. When King Ahab wanted Naboth’s vineyard
(1 Kings 21), Queen Jezebel placed the king’s seal on the law to make it valid. Seals do not
invalidate the law, they make them valid. That’s why in Isaiah 8:16 we see that God says to
seal the law among His disciples (followers). Hebrews 8:10 shows that God will write His
law in our hearts and minds, where we can meditate on them. The seal of God validates His
law, which is written into your mind (if you choose). Revelation 4:11 reveals that God is
worthy because He is the Creator. God’s authority comes from the fact that He is the Creator,
who we are called to worship. We see this in Exodus 20:8-11, where God is the Creator and
that is why we should rest.
A seal has three components: name, title, and territory. If you look at the seal of the
president in the U.S., it would currently be Barack Obama, President of the United States.
For Ahab it would have been Ahab, King of Israel. What is God’s seal? Remember that a
seal validates a law, and in God’s law in the fourth commandment we see that God is His
name, Creator is his title, and Heaven and Earth is His territory (Revelation 20:8-11). Ezekiel
20:12, 20 reveal that the Sabbath is a sign between God and His people. It is a reminder that
God created you, and that He can clean you (if you are willing). You may argue that keeping
the Sabbath is trying to work your way into heaven. But how come no one says that honoring
your father and mother is trying to get into heaven by your works? How come no accusations
are directed against those who refuse to kill others as trying to get into heaven by works?
When God tells us to remember His memorial, the Sabbath day, when you choose to follow
it, you are surrendering your will to God. You are taking a step of faith when you follow
God’s way and not your own. Doing your own thing is works.
So we see that the seal of God is found in His law, which is validated by His seal. We
see that those who choose not to worship the beast will have the seal of God. We can find
that seal in the Sabbath, a memorial to God’s creation. We see the first angel in Revelation
14 direct us to worship God because He is the creator. Revelation is littered with references
to God being worthy since He is the Creator. Remember we told you that Revelation reveals
Jesus? Multiple times Jesus is referred to as the Creator in Revelation.
Now let’s go back to the mark of the beast. We know the seal of God is for those who
choose to worship God, and we see that the mark of the beast is for those who choose to
worship the beast. Revelation 14:12 reveals that the saints (with the seal of God, written in
the book of life, choose to worship God) are the ones who keep the commandments of God
and have the faith of Jesus. It follows that those with the mark of the beast do not keep the
commandments of God.
Remember the mark of the beast is associated with the beast. We already looked at
who the beast was. We saw that this beast would try to change God’s law. We took a look at
a specific commandment that the beast has tried to changed (see post here). Those that
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worship the beast follow what the beast teaches. Those who receive the mark of the beast
say, “I do not want to follow God’s law, I will follow the traditions of mankind. God’s word
is not the final authority in my life.” They will choose man’s laws over God’s laws. They
will choose to not worship on the seventh-day, even though the Bible points to Sabbath
worship. This is where God’s seal lives.
Why are you making such a big deal about a day? Why does that matter and why are
you attaching dire consequences to a day of the week?
Good question. If you saw someone take a clean white cloth and stand on the corner
of Times Square and stomp on it until it was dirty, would you say anything? Probably not,
it’s a piece of cloth, people have done worse things. What if the person came back the next
day with a red cloth and did the same thing? Again, it’s a trivial matter. The following day
the same person comes in with a blue cloth and jumps on it and makes it dirty. Still say
anything? Ok, now suppose that person comes back the next day with those same white, red,
and blue cloths. They have been cleaned up from before, and sown together with 13 stripes
and 50 stars. Remember this is the same cloth used in the previous three days, but it is put
together differently. And this person takes that bigger piece of white, red, and blue cloth and
jumps on it in Times Square. Would you say something now? Why? It’s just cloth after all?
Or is not so much about the cloth anymore, but what the cloth stands for when put
together?
See, the actual day of Saturday is not the issue at stake here. It is God’s sovereignty.
It is His role as Creator. It is His role as Redeemer. It is what the Sabbath stands for that is
on trial here. You may say that the actual day does not matter, but the fact that the Sabbath
day that God made holy points to His creation (which is discussed in Revelation), and it is a
memorial to His Creation that they belong to Him that does matter! Choosing not to keep the
Sabbath is not just choosing a different day, it is stomping on what that day stands for. The
Sabbath is special to God. When we worship Him on the seventh-day we acknowledge what
God has done and is doing for us! Isaiah 58:13 basically says, “Please stop stomping on my
holy day.”
This is a lot of information, and you can see why our previous posts have been
foundational to this topic. The end of this Earth’s history will put man in the midst of a battle
of worship. Worship God, or worship the beast. Those who choose to worship the beast and
follow its laws will have the mark of the beast. It is a form of identification and allegiance.
It is not tangible like a credit card or laser tattoo or some other biometric device. Rather, it is
a mark revealed by one’s actions. It is a mark that reveals who has chosen to worship the
beast. Does anyone have it today? No. Remember people are forced to take the mark of the
beast, but no one is forced to worship on Sunday today. Revelation 13:16,17 reveals that the
second beast causes people of all kinds to receive a mark in their hands (actions) or foreheads
(thoughts and beliefs). Without the mark, no one can buy or sell. It will appear that those
without the mark will not survive. We will one day see legislation passed enforcing this kind
of worship. It is not far-fetched. Pope John Paul Ii in 1998 said that “Christians will naturally
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strive to ensure civil legislation respects their duty to keep Sunday holy” (Dies Domini). With
how volatile today’s atmosphere is in the political, cultural, and religious arenas, it will not
be a surprise if these things move quickly. We do not know when. But we know what the
beast stands for, and what his identifying mark will be. We know it is against the Bible. We
know that God’s people who love Him will keep His commandments.
Today is the day to examine where you stand with God. Take a close look at what He
has done for you! Take a look at what He continues to do for you! Jesus took a stand to save
you, sacrificing His life to free you from the devil’s chains. Keep Jesus at the forefront of
your mind when you make your decision. When looking at His death, His ability to forgive
your sins and make you a new creature, His power to raise people from the dead, and His
ultimate victory at the close of this chapter in Earth’s history, is the risk of following God’s
law on the count of death that great? We know God is going to ultimately win, we want to
be on His side.
Do you want to be on His side too?
April 23, 2016.
Source: http://uchurchsda.com/2016/04/the-mark-of-the-beast/
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The Battle of Armageddon
THE BATTLE OF
ARMAGEDDON
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. The battle of Armageddon refers to the final war between human governments and
God.
2. Revelation shows that at “the place that is called in Hebrew Armageddon,” “the kings
of the entire inhabited earth” will be gathered “together to the war of the great day of
God the Almighty” (Revelation 16:14).
3. These governments and their supporters oppose God even now by refusing to submit
to his rulership (Psalm 2:2).
4. The battle of Armageddon will bring human rulership to an end (Daniel 2:44).
5. The battle of Armageddon will encompass the whole earth (Jeremiah 25:32-34;
Ezekiel 39:17-20).
6. According to Hal Lindsay:
a. Israel will soon be invaded by a confederation of Arab-African forces headed
by Egypt. When this happens, Russia and her allies will use such as an
occasion to invade and conquer (for a short time) the Middle East.
b. Subsequently, the Russians learn of the progressive mobilization of Oriental
forces (under Red China) and Western European forces (under the Anti-
Christ, a fuehrer like dictator).
c. She will prepare to fight but will be completely destroyed (probably in a
nuclear attack) by Western Europe (which is supposed to be the revived
Roman Empire).
Doctrine Defeated.
1. Megiddo was an important city, especially in Old Testament times.
2. Many significant battles were fought at Megiddo (Judges 4:13, 15; 5:8; 7:1ff; 2 Kings
23:29).
3. This is a spiritual battle pictured in figurative terms.
4. If literal such army will be led by literal frogs (Revelation 16:13-16).
5. If literal the plain of Meggido (approximately 20 miles long by 14 miles wide) will
not accommodate a battle of hundreds of millions of soldiers.
6. If literal the weapons will be bows and arrows, shields, bucklers and spears, which
will then be burned instead of firewood for seven years (Ez. 39:9-10)
7. Professor Russell B. Jones says: “We seem to be on safe ground when we understand
the ancient battle-field at Megiddo as a type of the final stand of the enemies of
righteousness against the Lord at His appearing.”
8. John uses of the Old Testament must be respected; the evident symbolic language
cannot be ignored.
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True
TRUE
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THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON
(Cecil May Jr.)
Beginning at Revelation 12:1 and continuing through 20:10, a terrible war is pictured.
A great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns (12:3), a sea beast with ten horns and
seven heads (13:1) and an earth beast with two horns (13:11) are one side of the conflict.
They are fighting against a woman “clothed with the sun” (12:1), a male child born to the
woman (12:5), Michael and his angels (12:7), and “those who keep the commandments of
God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ,” “the other offspring” of the woman (12:17). As
the war rages, a Rider on a white horse joins in against the dragon and his helpers. The Rider
is “clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God” (19:11-16).
Forces are summoned for this decisive battle. “They gathered them together to the
place called in Hebrew, Armageddon” (Rev. 16:14-16). Armageddon means “Mountain of
Megiddo.” This is the only New Testament mention of either Armageddon or Meggido.
Megiddo was an important city, especially in Old Testament times. It was situated on The
Great Road which followed the fertile crescent from Egypt to Babylon. Megiddo was about
the mid-point between Gaza in the south and Damascus in the north. Any army marching out
of Egypt to the Tigris- Euphrates Valley to do battle against the Assyrians, Babylonians or
other empires from that region had to pass the fortress at Megiddo.
Many significant battles were fought at Megiddo. King Josiah died there in a vain
attempt to keep Pharaoh Necho of Egypt from bringing his army up the Great Road to align
with the King of Assyria against the forces of Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar (2 Kgs. 24:29-
30). An ideal place to symbolize a decisive battle involving God’s people!
In Revelation, the war rages. Babylon, the mother of harlots and abominations, is
defeated and destroyed. Those who depended on her for commerce bewail her passing. God’s
people, who suffered such persecution at the hand of Babylon, are vindicated. The armies of
heaven, led by Christ riding on a white horse, capture the two beasts and cast them into the
lake of fire (Rev. 19:20-21).
THE PREMILLENNIAL VIEW

Those who speak and write the most these days about Armageddon are those who
espouse a view called “premillennialism.” It is called that because it teaches Christ will
come before (pre) the one thousand-year (mille) reign of Christ.
Some of the system’s terminology is found in Revelation, especially Revelation 20,
but its primary tenets are not found there, and a consideration of its truth or falsity does not
properly begin there.
Premillennialism grows out of the conviction that God made promises to Israel which
have not yet been fulfilled, and, since God does not lie, they will be fulfilled at Christ’s
second coming.
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Actually, some of the promises they say have not been fulfilled were during the Old
Testament era. Others were not intended to be understood literally.
PROMISES TO ISRAEL FULFILLED IN OLD TESTAMENT
God promised Abraham that his descendants would possess the land of Canaan, the
land, in which Abraham was then sojourning, “from the river of Egypt to the great river, the
River Euphrates” (Gen. 15:18-21).
Premillennialists say Israel never possessed all of that territory; so this promise has
not been fulfilled. But the Bible says,
So the Lord gave to Israel all the land which he had sworn to give to their fathers, and
they took possession of it and dwelt in it… Not a word failed of any good thing which the
Lord had spoken to the house of Israel. All came to pass (Jos. 21:43, 45).
God promised the people of Israel that they would be gathered from the nations
among whom they were scattered and restored to their land. Premillennialists see these
promises just now beginning to be fulfilled in the founding and continuing settlement of the
present state of Israel.
As the books of Ezra and Nehemiah record, the Jews did return to their land and
rebuild their city and temple, at the end of the predicted seventy years of Babylonian
captivity. That return was the fulfillment of those promises. No further promises of a return
to Canaan have since been made.
PROMISES TO ISRAEL FULFILLED SPIRITUALLY
Other promises to Israel were not intended to be fulfilled literally but figuratively.
“Fulfilled spiritually” is perhaps a better way to express it.
The New Testament consistently interprets Old Testament prophecies of the kingdom
spiritually. The church, Christ’s not-of-this world kingdom (Jn. 18:36), is declared to be the
subject of Old Testament kingdom prophecies.
The New Testament interpretation of any Old Testament prophecy should be our
standard. We should accept what God tells us he meant by a prophecy, whenever he chooses
to tell us.
Old Testament prophecies often speak of “the last days” or “afterward” as the time
they will come to pass. At Pentecost Peter said, “This is what was spoken by the prophet Joel,
‘It shall come to pass in the last days . . .’” (Acts 2:17). So when the Old Testament prophets
spoke of the last days, they were speaking of the church age, from Pentecost (Acts 2) through
the second coming of Christ, not of a kingdom after the end of this age.
David’s throne will be “established forever” (2 Sam. 7:13, 17). God will give Christ
“the throne of his father David” (Lk. 1:32). The apostle Peter, in his inspired sermon on
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Pentecost, said these promises were fulfilled when Christ ascended into heaven and sat down
on David’s throne at the right hand of God (Acts 2:29-36).
In the New Testament Israel has become “spiritual Israel,” the church, “the Israel of
God” (Gal. 6:16). In Romans 11, Israel, meaning the physical descendants of Abraham
through Isaac and Jacob, is pictured as a planted and carefully cultivated olive tree. Branches
from a wild olive tree, representing Gentiles who believed in Christ, were grafted into the
olive tree. Then some of the natural branches were broken off because of unbelief. These
pruned branches represent Jews who did not believe in Christ. So, Israel, the olive tree, ends
up consisting entirely of believers in Christ (Rm. 11:16-24). Promises made in the Old
Testament to Israel are fulfilled in the church.
Scores of additional illustrations could be given, but these illustrate the point: The
New Testament “spiritualizes” Old Testament prophecies and applies them to the present
kingdom of Christ, the church, not to a kingdom still to come.
Premillennialists, as represented by The Scofield Bible and Hal Lindsay’s books (The
Late Great Planet Earth, There’s A New World Coming) see this battle of Armageddon as a
carnal battle, with much bloodshed, slaughter and destruction, with Christ’s victory ushering
in the millennium.
They not only fail to recognize the New Testament spiritualization of Old Testament
prophecies; they also fail to acknowledge the figurative, apocalyptic nature of the Revelation.
The book begins by saying it concerns “things which must shortly take place” and that it is
“sent and signified” by the angel to God’s servant John (Rev. 1:1). The word translated
“signified” means “showed by signs.”
Even Premillennialists do not try to make everything in Revelation literal. They pick
and choose, interpret some things as literal and some things as figurative, with complete
arbitrariness and great inconsistency.
THE BATTLE
The battle of Armageddon is not a carnal battle to be fought with chariots and swords,
or even airplanes and nuclear bombs, resulting in blood running like a river, horse-bridle
deep down the valley. A spiritual battle is pictured in figurative terms.
In Revelation 2:10 the devil is introduced as the cause of the church’s tribulation, and
in 20:10 he is cast into the lake of fire for eternal torment. The defeat of the devil, and of
those who do his bidding on earth by persecuting God’s people, is the focus of this climatic
battle.
The sea beast and the earth beast (also called the false prophet), with their armies, are
defeated, and the dragon is bound for one thousand years. Afterward, he is let loose for a
brief foray, and is finally thrown into the lake of fire.
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The dragon is Satan (12:9). There can be no absolute victory over evil until he is
destroyed; so his decisive and final defeat is the focus of the vision.
The sea beast appears to be a political power who receives worship, probably the
emperor Domitian who, as Revelation was being written, was insisting on being worshiped.
The earth beast, a religious power who assists the sea beast, is perhaps the provincial
government of Asia Minor which was enforcing worship of the emperor.
The figure of the resplendent woman, while obviously representing Mary, the mother
of Jesus, is expanded to include with her other offspring, all the persecuted people of God
(Rev. 12:13-17).
Revelation pictures in vision and apocalyptic imagery the battle between Christianity
and the persecuting Roman Empire. It answers the cry of the souls of the martyrs in
Revelation 6:9-11, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood
on those who dwell on the earth?” It promises victory to those faithful to God.
The victory has come, as promised. Individuals who died as a result of the
persecutions are victorious with Christ even in death. The church, too, enjoys the promised
victory. She still lives and thrives while Rome, her persecutor, has faded into the dusts of
ancient history.
Armageddon is also symbolic of the ever-present struggle between good and evil.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of this darkness, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in
heavenly places (Eph. 6:12).
Christ won this war on the cross.
Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise
shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of
death, that is the devil, and release those who through fear of death are all their
lifetime subject to bondage (Heb. 2:14-15).
God announced and celebrated his victory at the cross by raising him from the dead.
Jesus Christ “was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of
holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rm. 1:2).
Christ does not have to resort, and will not, to carnal warfare, to horses or swords or
missiles, nor do we. “And they (Christians) overcame him (Satan) by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Rev.
12:11).
The battle of Armageddon continues. It is a spiritual battle. We do not fight with
weapons of a carnal nature, but with the powerful and effective word of God (2 Cor. 10:4).
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For reasons developed in detail in other lectures in this series, the one thousand years
of Revelation 20 represent the entire Christian era. Satan, while held on a leash (1 Cor. 10:13)
and unable to use the now defunct Roman empire to persecute Christians as he had (Rev.
20:3), is still going about “like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8).
At the end of Revelation 20, the devil rallies his followers against the saints, God
destroys them with fire from heaven, and Satan is thrown into the lake of fire, from which
there is no release forever.
It is a popular misconception to think of Satan as ruling in hell and tormenting the
damned, but that is not true. He is one of the damned and tormented.
At the end of Revelation 20 everyone stands before the great white throne. God is
there to judge all mankind. The basis of judgment is the record of the deeds each one has
done. Only condemnation can possibly result from this, because all have sinned and are
therefore under penalty of death.
But the Book of Life is also opened, and it contains the names of those who belong
to the Lamb and are redeemed by his blood. Others are cast into the lake of fire with Satan,
but those who are in the Book of Life enter into the New Jerusalem to be with God and the
Lamb. There is eternal fellowship with God and Christ and all of the redeemed and renewed
access to the tree of life.
Everything lost in Eden because of sin is regained in the Paradise of God because of
Christ. O blessed hope! The message of Revelation is, “Evil cannot win. Christ has
overcome.”
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “At His Coming” - 1998, Cecil May Jr: The Battle of
Armageddon. Pages 283-288.
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(Wayne Jackson)
Perhaps the most sensational aspect of dispensational premillennialism is the so-

called “Battle of Armageddon.” Purveyors of the premillennial doctrine are constantly
talking about this great and terrible conflict. It will be a bloody holocaust such as the world
has never known, it is claimed. Moreover, according to the “premillennial prophets”, this
catastrophic conflict is virtually certain to occur in our time. For example, Hal Lindsey, who
authored the bestselling popular primer in dispensational theology entitled The Late Great
Planet Earth, contends that conflicts are now developing that will lead to the Armageddon
campaign. Too, as this battle will just precede the visible coming of Christ, and since,
according to Lindsey, all “the signs” indicate “we are in the general time of His coming,”1
we, it is alleged, will witness Armageddon!
I. DEFINITIONS
By way of introduction, we should distinguish between “premillennialism” and

“dispensationalism.” Premillennialism (from pre, “before” and millennium, “1,000 years”)
simply asserts that Christ will return to the ‘earth before commencing His 1,000-year reign
from Jerusalem. The doctrine was born in the late 2nd century AD. and gradually disappeared
after the 3rd century A.D.2 until its revival in relatively modern times. Dispensationalism has
to do with the notion that, as God created the world in six days and on the seventh day He
rested, so all history is divided into seven dispensations, the final one of which will be the
millennium. Dispensationalism, which is even more radical than heretical premillennialism,
was fathered by John N. Darby (18001882) and popularized by C.I. Scofield (in the footnotes
of the Scofield Reference Bible. It is the currently popular dispensational view of
Armageddon which we will now consider.
II. ARMAGEDDON IN THE DISPENSATIONAL SCHEME
(1) In order to appreciate the vastness of error that is characteristic of this system, one
must see its alleged chronological development. Advocates of the theory contend that: (1)
Christ came to earth for the purpose of setting up His kingdom (re-establishment of Old
Testament kingdom), but as He was surprisingly rejected by the Jews, He did not set up the
kingdom but rather, as an after-thought, established the church instead; (2) Since returning
to heaven the Bridegroom has “tarried,” but “signs” (especially Matthew 24) indicate that
His return is imminent; (3) The “first state” of the Lord’s coming will be quiet and invisible
at which time the living righteous will be “raptured” and dead saints resurrected; (4) This
commences a seven year “Tribulation” period, during the first half of which, Solomon’s
temple will be rebuilt and the sacrifices of the law of Moses reactivated, while the latter
portion of this span will involve bloody conflict which is consummated by the battle of
Armageddon; (5) Christ is then, after His Armageddon victory, to begin an earthly reign of
1,000 literal years upon David’s throne in Jerusalem, after which the wicked dead are to be
raised, the judgment will occur, and eternity will commence.
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(2) A more preposterous and perverted view of related Biblical matters could hardly
be imagined. First, Christ was not surprisingly rejected by the Jews; His rejection was
prophesied centuries earlier (Psa. 118:22). And He did establish the kingdom (John 3:5; Col.
1:13; Rev. 1:9), the church (Matt. 16: 18, 19), as a part of God’s eternal plan (Eph. 3:10, 11).
Secondly, while on earth, Jesus knew not of the time of His final coming (Matt. 24:36);
hence, He gave no “signs” regarding the time of that event. Thirdly, the Bible plainly teaches
that the Lord’s coming will be both visible (II Thes. 1:7; Heb. 9:28) and audible (I Thes.
4:16; 11 Pet. 3:10); and, on that day, both the wicked and righteous will be resurrected at the
same time (John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15).
Fourthly, “nowhere in the Bible is the word ‘tribulation’ used in connection with a
seven-year period at the end of the age’.’4 And clearly the Mosaic law has been permanently
abrogated5 (Col. 2:14). To suggest that animal sacrifices will be reactivated is inexcusable
in light of passages teaching the finality of Christ’s atoning work (Heb.10:10). Fifthly, the
carnal nature of dispensationalism’s Armageddon is totally at variance with the Spiritual
nature of New Testament conflict (Il Cor. 10:3-6). And, finally, there is not the slightest bit
of evidence of a 1,000-year earthly reign of Christ, Revelation 20: 16 (considered elsewhere
in this volume) being no exception.
III. ARMAGEDDON HAL LINDSEY
Since Hal Lindsey is currently the most widely read advocate of dispensational
premillennialism, his view of Armageddon will be briefly discussed. Lindsey asserts that
political indications suggest that likely Israel will soon be invaded by a confederation of
Arab-African forces headed by Egypt. When this happens, Russia and her allies will use such
as an occasion to invade and conquer (for a short time) the Middle East. Subsequently, the
Russians learn of the progressive mobilization of Oriental forces (under Red China) and
Western European forces (under the Anti-Christ, a fuehrer like dictator). She will prepare to
fight but will be completely destroyed (probably in a nuclear attack) by Western Europe
(which is supposed to be the revived Roman Empire).
Accordingly, this sets the stage for “the final climactic battle of Armageddon: the
combined forces of the Western civilization under the leadership of the Roman Dictator and
the vast hordes of the Orient probably united under the Red Chinese war machine.”6 This
mighty battle between the Oriental forces (with 200 million soldiers7) and the armies of the
Anti-Christ will occur “with the vortex centered at the Valley of Megiddo.” So many will be
killed that “blood will stand to the horses’ bridles for a total distance of 200 miles northward
and southward of Jerusalem”; in fact, Lindsey claims, this war will spread over all the earth,
destroying cities like London, Paris, New York, etc. Finally, “as the battle of Armageddon
reaches its awful climax and it appears that all life will be destroyed on earth in this very
moment Jesus Christ will return and save man from self-extinction.”
If you think the preceding sounds like a fantastic fabrication which bears absolutely
no relation to the Bible, you are quite correct. Anyone who is disposed to follow the
dispensational method of “interpretation” can take scissors and paste and perform literary
surgery on the Sacred Text and make it mean anything under heaven’s blue sky!
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IV. THE NATURE AND DESIGN OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION
The term “Armageddon”, or as it is called in Hebrew, “Har-Magedon” is found only

once in the Bible. “And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew
Har-Magedon” (Rev. 16:16). Before we are in a position to say what Armageddon is or is
not, we must briefly look at the character and purpose of this final book in the Bible.
(1) The Book of Revelation is a highly symbolic narrative. Such is evidenced not only
by a casual survey of its contents, but also by John’s introduction. Christ “signified” the
message by His angel unto His servant John (Rev. 1:1). The question naturally arises as to
why the Lord chose symbols to be the vehicles of these truths. Biblical symbolism frequently
served a two-fold purpose. First, it was designed to reveal, in a dramatic and very vivid way,
truths to those who were initiated in the significance of the word-pictures. Secondly, at the
same time, these truths could be concealed from those who would abuse them if the message
were clearly understood. Generally, therefore, this symbolic terminology (also called
apocalyptic language) was employed by inspired writers to convey messages of hope to the
Lord’s people in times of danger. One scholar has expressed it this way: the language of
symbolism “was a mode of expression frequently adopted by Jewish writers towards the close
of the Old Testament dispensation, when, owing to foreign oppression, it would have been
dangerous to speak plainly in matters affecting the national interests.”9
(2) The Book of Revelation is a message of victory. One of the document’s key words
is “overcome". The Greek word nika?) (overcome, conquer, victory) is found twenty-eight
times in the New Testament and seventeen of these are in Revelation. Now it is a fact
admitted by all that this book was written in a time of severe and widespread persecution.
The blood of the saints ran red. It must have appeared to many that the Christian movement
was on the brink of virtual extinction. The object of the writing therefore, was to assure
followers of Christ of the ultimate complete overthrow of God’s enemies and the glorious
triumph of Christianity. This word of consolation was couched in the imagery of the Old
Testament; Westcott and Hort’s Greek New Testament lists over five hundred references and
allusions from the Old Testament in Revelation. The Christians, being familiar with the Old
Testament Scriptures, would understand the symbols, hence grasp the message; their enemies
would not. Any View, therefore, of the Book of Revelation that fails to recognize its highly
symbolic nature; that seeks to literalize its images, is doomed to absolute failure! And this is
the cardinal error of the premillennialists.
V. WHAT IS ARMAGEDDON?
(1) The solitary Biblical reference to “Armageddon” occurs near the end of
Revelation 16. This awesome chapter records the pouring out of seven bowls of God’s wrath
into the earth (vs. 1). The bowls of wrath. are in the form of plagues (sores, blood, fire, frogs),
reminiscent of the Exodus plagues, and they are designed to be universal, strictly punitive,
and final. Leon Morris says: “They point us to God’s overthrow of all that is evil.” ln
connection with the sixth bowl John writes in Revelation 16:13-16:
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“And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the beast, and out of
the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: for they are
spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world,
to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (Behold,
I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk
naked, and they see his shame.) And they gathered them together into the place which
is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon.”
(2) Surely even the most immature exegete ought to be able to discern the figures here
employed. Are literal frogs literally going to come from the literal mouths of literal creatures
to engage in battle on the literal plain of Megiddo? I would assume that even Hal Lindsey
does not believe that his “Red Chinese war machine” will be led by frogs! Moreover, the
plain of Megiddon is only approximately twenty miles long by fourteen miles wide and that
is much too small to accommodate a battle of the magnitude (hundreds of millions of soldiers)
demanded by the premillennial view.
(3) Exactly what is “Har-Magedon”? While recent New Testament criticism has
argued the meaning of the term, Professor Eberhard Nestle says: “Upon the whole, to find an
allusion here to Megiddo is still the most probable explanation.” Har-Magedon literally
means mountain of Megiddo. “The fact that the hill of Megiddo was about 70 feet high in
John’s day, and was in the vicinity of Carmel Range. justifies the use of Hebrew har, used
loosely in the Old Testament for ‘hill’ and ‘hill country’ . . . ”
(4) Now it needs to be recognized that in speaking of Armageddon, or the mountain

of Megiddo, the apostle John is not alluding to a literal place. The use of geographical points
to emphasize spiritual truths is a common Biblical phenomenon. Take, for example, the word
“hell"(Grk. gehennal. The Greek gehenna relates to the Hebrew ge hinnom, which was the
Valley of Hinnom just south of Jerusalem. In Old Testament times, when the Jews became
involved in idolatry, they offered their children as burnt sacrifices there (11 Kings 16:3; 21
:6). Later, because of these horrible pagan associations, the valley became the city dump
which was constantly burning. Thus, because of its connection with pain, weeping, and
burning, gehenna became a symbol for the final punishment of hell.13 Certainly it would be
absurd to contend that on the day of judgment, the wicked will be cast into the literal Valley
of Hinnom near Jerusalem!
Similarly, and characteristically, John, in the Revelation, frequently uses places as

symbols for concepts. So, Zion (14:1) and Jerusalem (21:2) are symbols of God’s spiritual
city, the church; Babylon is symbolic of apostasy and all that is opposed to God (14:8); Egypt
and Sodom (11:8) represent Oppression and wickedness; the Euphrates (16:12) was symbolic
of the point of origin of (spiritual) Israel’s enemies, etc. And it is within such a reference
frame that “mountain of Megiddo” is likewise used.
(5) The history of Megiddo is quite interesting. It is the earth’s most famous battle-
field. J. L. Hurlbut declared that “more battles have been fought on this plain than on any
other in the world.”14A number of famous Old Testament conflicts occurred there. It was
famous for the victories of Deborah and Barak over the Canaanites (Judg. 4:15), and of
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Gideon over the Midianites (Judg. 7). Josiah was also killed in battle there (11 Kings 23: 29).
“It is not unlikely,” as Morris notes, “that the deliverance under Deborah is regarded as
setting the pattern. Then Sisera had 900 chariots of iron (Judg. 4: 13), but in Israel there was
scarce a shield or spear among 40,000 (Judg. 5:8). Israel’s position was completely hopeless.
But when the battle was joined, ‘the Lord routed Sisera and all his chariots and all his army’
(Judg. 4:15 RSV). So will it be at the last day. However strong the forces of evil may appear,
and however hopeless the position of those of good, God will win the victory. He will
resoundingly overthrow the evil.”15 And so, “The old battle-ground becomes the symbol of
the decisive struggle. It is raised in meaning: it is a type, not a locality.”
(6) Armageddon is “the war of Christ” (Revelation [9). While some would identify
the pouring out of God’s wrath in Revelation 16 (including Armageddon) with the destruction
of Jerusalem or perhaps with the cessation of Roman persecution at the time of
Constantine,17 it is more likely that Armageddon is used as a symbol of “the final overthrow
of all the forces of evil by an almighty God.”18 Professor Russell B. Jones says: “We seem
to be on safe ground when we understand the ancient battle-field at Megiddo as a type of the
final stand of the enemies of righteousness against the Lord at His appearing.”
It is important to observe that Revelation 16 actually says nothing about the battle of
Armageddon taking place at that point. There, the forces are merely gathered together
awaiting “the war of the great day of God, the Almighty” when He comes “as a thief” (16:14,
15). (Note: the great day of God is “the day of God’s final judgment”20 at which time the
earth will be destroyed (11 Pet. 3:12); and the expression “come as a thief” is repeatedly
employed in connection with Christ’s Second Coming (Matt. 24:43; 1 Thes. 5:2; II Pet. 3:10).
The battle scene itself is vividly pictured in Revelation 19:11-16.
“And I saw the heaven opened; and behold a white horse, and he that sat thereon
called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. And his eyes are
a flame of fire, and upon his head are many diadems; and he hath a name written which no
one knoweth but he himself. And he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood: and his
name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon
white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure. And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp
sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and
he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty. And he hath
on his garment and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF
LORDS.”
Concerning this remarkable description, the following observations are in order: First,
the one coming from heaven is clearly Christ, the Word (John 1:1, 14). The white horse is a
symbol of His victorious conquest. Secondly, He is coming to judge and make war. But the
judgment will take place at His Second Coming (Matt. 25:31ff); hence, His war against the
enemies of Jehovah will occur at that time. Thirdly, the Lord smites the rebellious nations
with a sharp sword that proceeds out of His mouth. Elsewhere, Paul shows that at the time of
His “coming” (Grk. parousia a technical term for the Lord’s final coming in judgment), Jesus
Christ will slay His foes “with the breath of His mouth” and bring them to nought (II Thes.
2:8).
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(7) In summation, our argument is arranged logically as follows:
(1) The battle of Armageddon will occur when Christ comes to judge (Rev.
16:16; 19:11).
(2) But He will judge at His Second Coming.
(3) The battle of Armageddon will thus take place at the Second Coming of
Christ.
(1) The Armageddon war will take place when Jesus destroys His enemies
with the breath of His mouth.
(2) But such will occur at His coming (parousia).
(3) Therefore, Armageddon is the punishment inflicted by Christ at His
Second Coming.
CONCLUSION
(1) The dispensational-premillennial View of the battle of Armageddon is totally

false. It contains not the slightest support in the Scriptures. Rather, it is grounded upon a
novel and relatively recent (about a century ago) scheme of theological presuppositions. It is
buttressed by an erroneous exegetical system which completely ignores the obvious
symbolism of the Book of Revelation and crudely literalizes its pictures. It is part and parcel
of a doctrine that reflects in many ways upon the integrity of the Word of God, and hence, is
infidelic. It must be rejected.
(2) We have nothing to fear of an impending political Armageddon. However, all who
are out of Christ (Gal. 3:26, 27), or who are unfaithful to the Bridegroom (II Cor. 11:2), had
best prepare against the awful day of spiritual Armageddon!
“Premillennialism True or False?” Wayne Jackson: The Battle of Armageddon. Pages 128-
135.
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(David B. Jackson)
On the set of a film called “Fear No Evil,” about Lucifer battling angels on the second
coming, a mobile home housing make-up and wardrobe exploded in the middle of the night.
All that was left was a slightly charred Bible, and into its melted plastic cover was fused a
copy of the script of “Fear No Evil.” Some took it as an omen, as a sign.
The Boss Glove Company manufactures work gloves that are stamped “666,” and an
introduction-to-algebra book is entitled, 666 Jelly-beans (in Jack Van Impe’s Signs of the
Times, 1976, p. 48).
Hal Lindsey is again headed for the best-seller list with The 1980’sCountdown to
Armageddon, from which he realized $180,000 in royalties in the first nine months,
according to Russel Chandler in Profits of Doom. This is “p-r-o-f-i-t-s,” not p-r-o-p-h-e-t-s
(Roanoke Times, May 18, 1981).
A picture in Psychology Today (May 1983) of grocery store shoppers bearing the
universal product bar code stamped on their foreheads is linked to “the mark of the beast” in
Rev. 13:16-17 (Prophecy Update, July-August, 1983).
These are only a few examples of the widespread impression of many that the end is
near, Armageddon is on the horizon. Even non-religious works have picked up the
terminology. In the popular movie, “Wargames,” which was current in the summer of 1983,
“Armageddon” was one of a series of “games" associated with warfare and destruction.
What is “The Battle of Armageddon?” Where and when will it take place? Is it
possible to know the answers to these questions at all? Some claim to know everything about
John’s Revelation, including Armageddon; they likely claim too much. Others are
completely mystified, never dealing with the last book of the New Testament at all. They are
like Jerome, who wrote in the fourth century, “The Apocalypse of John has many secrets at
work. I am saying less than the book deserves. It is beyond all praise; for multiple meanings
lie hidden in each single word” (Stagg, p. 331).
It does not seem expedient to build up all the specifics of mistaken theories about the
Battle of Armageddon in order to tear them down again in a “strawman debate” lecture.
Rather, the subject of Armageddon will be presented within the context of a broader View of
the book of Revelation, with the end in View of presenting it as a profitable book for
Christians in the twentieth century. This is in contrast to the view of Martin Luther, who is
1522 said, “My spirit cannot accommodate itself to this book. There is one sufficient reason
for the small esteem in which I hold it-that Christ is neither taught in it nor recognized”
(Stagg).
Indeed, the opposite is true. The book is, in fact, the “revelation of Jesus Christ,” and
from beginning to end it is the Christ who is the focus of attention. Because he “loves us and
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has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Rev. 1:5b), he receives “glory and power for ever
and ever” (1:6). The same praise received by God on His throne is received also by the Lamb
(5:13). He, with God, is the source of salvation (7:10); He is the bringer of God’s victory
(19:11-21); He with God is the Temple and Light of the new Jerusalem (21:22-23); He, as
God is, is Alpha and Omega (1:8; 21:6; 22:12,l3). Revelation is supremely a book about Jesus
Christ.
Preliminary Considerations
Two things need to be addressed as presuppositions in this lecture. The first is that
whatever the message of the book of Revelation is, it had to be understandable to the people
to whom John wrote. That is, the Hrst century Christians had to get John’s point, otherwise
he could as easily have sealed up “the words of the prophecy of this book” (22: 10).
If the Battle of Armageddon only has reference to a 20th century thermo-nuclear

conflict between the Russians, the Chinese, the ten Common Market countries, the U.S.A.,
and the Antichrist, then why bother residents of first century Asia Minor about it? They could
hardly be comforted or concerned if God’s victory over evil was going to be accomplished
in that way so far into the future. John’s own words are that these things “must soon take
place” (1:1), and “the time is near” (22:10).
The second consideration is that Jesus himself had something to say about the end
times. The “Little Apocalypse” of the Synoptic Gospels (Matt. 24:21-51; Mark 13:21-37;
Luke 21:5-36) contains a very specific statement regarding attempts to predict the timing of
the end. First there are explicit statements:
No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but
only the Father. . . . You do not know when that time will come. . . . What I say to
you, I say to everyone: “Watch!” (Mark 13:32,33-37).
Then there are his illustrations: as in the days of Noah (Matt. 24:37f.); the thief in the
night (Matt. 24:43-44); the master of the house giving tasks to his servants as he leaves on a
trip (Matt. 24:45-51; Mark 13:34-36). In each case there is no warning, no prediction of
timing made available to those involved.
Finally, his advice to the hearers is important, especially when contrasted with his
earlier warning about the impending destruction of Jerusalem’s temple. He advised, “Let
those who are in Judea flee to the mountains” (Matt. 24:16). It would be a time of appearance
for false christs, not the real thing (W. 23-25). The warnings would be as clear as are the
signs of the approach of summer (vv. 32,33).
But, concerning the ultimate end, there are no signs, no advice to flee or prepare, but
only this: “Watch!” If Jesus has clearly spoken, saying that there is no knowledge ahead of
time, then that simplifies matters in approaching Revelation as a whole, and the Battle of
Armageddon in particular. As 1D. Bales has observed, we may not know in every case what
a thing is, but we can know what it is not.
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The Battle of Armageddon
Only one biblical text mentions Armageddon-Rev. 16:16: “Then they gathered the
kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.” The reference is to the hill
and plain of Megiddo in Palestine, which was on the main highway from Damascus to Egypt
and was, therefore, the scene of many bloody battles in ancient history. The Old Testament
records four such battles: Gideon and the Midionites, Deborah and Barak vs. Sisera, Saul
against the Philistines, and Pharaoh Necho vs. Josiah. The question then becomes, does Rev.
16:16 picture a last great battle at this scene of so many great battles, or is it John’s symbol
of a conflict so signihcant that it can be compared with one of those historic battles fought at
Megiddo?
Implications of a Literal Battle
The presentation of battle imagery occurs in several parts of Revelation (11:7f.;

1227f; 13:4; 16:12-16; 17:14-18; 19:11-21). Since the ultimate struggle is between God and
Satan, other passages such as Ezekiel 38 and 39 and Daniel 11:40-45 are included by those
looking for a literal battle. Shank’s presentation (Until: The Coming of Messiah and His
Kingdom) will serve as a model. Armageddon is World War III, and the evil army will be
composed of Russia (Gog), Iran (Persia), Ethiopia (Cush), Libya (Put), and East Germany
(Gomer). One third of the earth’s population will be destroyed. It will be precipitated “when
Russia suddenly sweeps into Israel and Egypt and virtually the whole Middle East is a
blitzkrieg invasion” (p. 232). And he is convinced that, everything in the world scene today
. . . indicates that the coming of the Messiah and his glorious world kingdom is at hand. But
first . . . the climactic clash of ideologies, nations, and blocs in the rush to Armageddon . . .
(p. 13).
If the picture is literal, then the commanders of the evil army will be three frogs (Rev.
16:13; cf. Summers, p. 189). The weapons will be bows and arrows, shields, bucklers and
spears, which will then be burned instead of firewood for seven years (Ez. 39:9-10). Boatman
summarizes other implications (pp.93-94):
1) the regarding of Israel in Palestine;
2) Christ’s kingdom headquartered in Jerusalem, with the Jews front and center;
3) The nations of the earth ruled by Christ and his saints, but hating him and his rule
insomuch that he must rule with a rod of iron even though Satan’s influence is
completely removed from the earth because he is absolutely bound and sealed off in
the abyss for a thousand years;
4) all this preceded by only a partial resurrection day, that is, a resurrection only of the
bodies of his saints;
5) the assumption that the Jews, with the Holy Spirit absent from the world, will turn
out to be more effective evangelists than was the church with the help of the Holy
Spirit and the power of the Gospel;
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6) such incongruities as
a) a restored temple, Levitical priesthood, and a sacrificial system,

b) angels now residing on earth, no incarnated and resurrected saints in glorified
bodies, sustained by the viands of the physical world and dwelling alongside
ordinary mortals, . . . More could be said, but the point here is that a literal view,
if consistently followed, creates too many problems to be acceptable.
In Support of a Symbolic Armageddon
There is no need for modern Christians to become “agog over Gog and Magog," or to
follow “fig tree figments” (Boatman, pp. 261, 254). The way ~John uses the Old Testament
in his book is significant. He borrows heavily from it, without actually quoting it directly,
and turns its expressions into something new. This is true to the style of apocalyptic literature.
“Because of this, one cannot understand the Revelation simply by recovering the intention
of Old Testament passages or by constructing one’s own logical system from the primitive
sources” (Stagg, p. 333).
Earlier in Revelation, John apparently refers to Zechariah 12:10-12, as people of the

earth look on “the one whom they have pierced” (1:7). The passage also contains a reference
to Meggiddo, which may have been the genesis of John’s image of warfare (Caird, p. 207).
The mourning of those opposed to God will be an appropriate response at the time of his
revelation in judgement.
That the picture is not literal is evident from the obvious mixing of geographical
references in Rev. 16:12-16. The river at Megiddo is not the Euphrates, but the Kishon.
Babylon is the site located on the Euphrates and it was, indeed, defeated by means of a dried-
up river when Cyrus invaded (cf. Isa. 44:24-45c6). As Shea observes,
This should tell us something about the nature of the battle on the great day of God
Almighty which is to follow this plague. it should caution the commentator against
excessive literalness in interpreting these references in terms of modern day political
entities in the Middle East or elsewhere" (pp. 158-159).
There is no mountain at Megiddo, but the nearest one is Mt. Carmel. It was the scene
of Elijah ’5 great battle with the prophets of Baal in the days of Ahab and Jezebel (1 Kings
18). If John has Carmel in mind, perhaps the analogy is with Elijah’s battle (as Shea
suggests). The dragon, a civil state in Revelation, was Ahab; the beast, as a false religion,
was Jezebel, who introduced Baal worship in Israel; the false prophet of Revelation were the
850 prophets of Baal who confronted Elijah. Thus Rev. 16:12-16 refers “to the coming of a
Messianic figure who, by virtue of his victory, will deliver God’s people” (Shea, p. 158). Just
as in Elijah’s battle, the matter is settled by fire from God, and the false prophets are slain
with the sword (Rev. 19:20,21).
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No mention is made in Rev. 16:16 about God’s army, which is striking if John intends
to depict the final showdown that will bring world history to a standstill. All the attention
given to describing the enemy is not balanced by details of God’s own forces. Nor is there a
description of the battle here. In 19:11-21 the battle is prepared for; when the battle is joined
(2027-10), a very strange thing happens-no battle! God intervenes, defeats Satan’s forces,
destroying Satan and his messenger. And here is the message of Revelation God won! As
Hendriksen says, “Har-Mageddon is the symbol of every battle in which when the need is
greatest and believers are oppressed, the Lord suddenly reveals his power in the interest of
his distressed people and defeats the enemy” (p. 196).
The same lesson is taught by John with other figures, both in this context and other
places in the book. There are the great earthquake, harvest, vintage, and the marriage supper
of the Lamb. Bauckham summarizes:
Only the insensitively literalistic will be puzzled that John can describe the fall of
Babylon first in the great earthquake and then at the hands of the armies of the beast,
or that in the last of the seven plagues we find an earthquake instead of the battle of
Armageddon which the penultimate plague had led us to expect (p. 232).
So, the battle of Armageddon becomes a symbol of God’s guarantee of victory over
Satan. It is the assurance that our faith in him overcomes the world.
Analysis of the Whole Book, Part I
Kenneth A. Strand of Andrews University presents a helpful chiastic analysis of the

Book of Revelation which may, in turn, throw additional light on the significance of the battle
of Armageddon. The entire book is found to divide at 14:20. The first division (Chapters 1-
14) is seen as “common themes that are counterparts in an historical setting,” while part two
is “an eschatological-judgement setting.”
A. Prologue (1:1-11)
B. Church Militant (1:12-3:22)
C. God’s Salvatory work in Progress (421-811)
Da. Trumpet Warnings (8:2-11218)
Db. Aggression by Evil Forces (11:19-14:20)
Da Plague Punishments (1511-16:21),
Db. Judgement on Evil Forces (17:1-18:24)
C. God’s Salvatory work Completed (19:1-21:4) B
B. Church Triumphant (215-2225)
A. Epilogue (2226-21)
(see Strand, p. 401)
What is promised to those who overcome in 1-3 is fulfilled in 2115-225; the throne,
24 elders, 4 creatures, praise-songs, God’s judging and avenging of 4-7 reappear in 19:1-
21:4; the trumpets and dragon-beasts in 8:2-14:20 reappear as plagues and beast/Babylon in
15:1-18:24.
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Dividing the book along these lines relates the two main sections to the parallel
statements of Christ's return and the presence of the Alpha and Omega in 127-8 and 22:12-
13 (Strand, p. 408). The promise of reward points toward judgement, which is the concern of
the second major division; Alpha-Omega assures that Christ is present even when his
followers are mistreated, which is the need of the first half.
The reference to Armageddon appears in the eschatological section (15:1 16:21)

which answers to the advance of the forces of evil in the historical section (11:19-14:20).
Thus, God’s judgement will come upon the evil ones much in the way a defeated army would
experience its last devastating battle. There will be no recovery, no more battles to be fought,
the doom of the vanquished forces is sealed. In this there is great comfort to those persecuted
Christians who were relying on the promise that at Christ’s return, the faithful would, at last,
be victorious.
Analysis of the Whole Book, Part II
A unique approach to the book of Revelation has been suggested by David R.

Carnegie, in which the five vision sections (421-11; 521-14; 611-7217; 82111:18; 11:19-
19:8) are linked by hymns occurring within each section. The hymns do this in three ways:
1) by showing the relationship of the visions to each other, especially concerning the view of
Christ; 2) “these hymns have clear points of contact with the eschatological songs of praise
to be found in Isaiah 40-55” (Carnegie, p. 247); and 3) the practices of the imperial cult
provide a background for the hymns.
Each of the vision sections of Revelation has at least one hymn, which serves not only
to interpret the vision, but also to link the visions with each other. An illustration comes from
11215-17: the phrase “you have taken your great power” (17b) reflects “you are worthy . . .
to receive . . . power” in 421 l (Carnegie, p. 248). The teaching is “that the power ascribed to
God in the first vision in chapter 4 is the eschatological power exercised in the visions
depicting judgement.” The same hymn is linked to the setting of 22:5-“he shall reign for ever
and ever” (11215b) points toward “they Shall reign for ever and ever.” Thus what has already
happened and what is to come are linked by the hymn.
The worthiness of God to receive praise in 421 l is also the worthiness of the Lamb
in 5:12. The praise element in the hymns is similar to the hymns of Isaiah 40-55, some of
which “serve to summarize the theme of the whole passage” (p. 250). The emphasis for Isaiah
is the uniqueness of Yahweh, and in Revelation Christ shares all of God’s qualities. The
hymns reflect an ever-expanding chorus of praise to both God and the Lamb, beginning with
heavenly beings (426-11 and 528-12) and concluding with all the nations (21226).
The desire of Roman monarchs to be worshipped as deity is rejected in the hymns, as some
of the exact language is reflected in the practice of emperor worship. Only the Lamb is worthy
of praise and worship. Thus, all things past, present, and future-revolve around the historical,
crucified and risen Jesus, who is now alive for evermore.
Part of the appeal of this approach is that it allows Revelation to speak a needed and
even exhilarating message to Christians of all ages, without becoming distracted with the
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visions and symbols in between. The battle of Armageddon passage is bounded by hymns in
l 1:15-18 and 19: 1-8. The first hymn recognizes that God’s kingdom has already begun, and
now it is time for judgement to take place. This message is essentially repeated in 12: 10-12,
and elements of it appear in 13:10, 15:3-4, 1625-7, and much of chapter 18, with emphasis
on judgement having been accomplished. The hymn in 19:1-8 recognizes the accomplished
punishment of wickedness, and celebrates the rewarding of the faithful.
Armageddon fits into this section as a feature of the judgement to come on the wicked.
As such, it does not require a literal, historical battle within chronological history. Rather, it
becomes a picture of God’s defeat of Satan. as part of his over-all judgement, which will
include the reward of those who have remained faithful even to the point of death.
Conclusion
Armageddon appears in John’s letter as a picture of God’s justice exercised against

evil as he vindicates his saints in the final day. It is one sign among many by which the author
of Revelation attempts to give encouragement to struggling Christians in the Roman Empire
of the first century AD. It carries the same message into the twentieth century: be faithful,
because God will defeat all the forces of Satan, and will reward his people with blessings
which will last forever.
The discussions between pre-, post-, and amillennial interpreters of Revelation will
continue until the event itself quiets them. History shows different views in ascendency at
different times (see Robert G. Clouse, “Introduction,” in The Meaning of the Millennium:
Four Views, WP. 1977): premillennialism in the first three centuries of the church;
amillennialism from the fourth to the sixteenth; postmillennialism to the nineteenth;
premillennialism again in the mid-1800’s. In the final analysis, this comment is true:
More important than exact understanding of the whole scheme of biblical eschatology
is sincere faith and personal commitment to [the] Messiah. A crown of righteousness and life
awaits, not those who have “mastered” the whole spectrum of biblical eschatology, but “all
who love his appearing" (Shank, p. 12).
of Last Things.” David B. Jackson: The Battle of Armageddon. Pages 63-69.
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Error
ERROR
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THE WARS OF THE END OF TIMES
Every time a war breaks out in the Middle East, I receive a flurry of phone calls and
email messages asking if it could be the War of Armageddon. This question is prompted by
the fact that most people are familiar with only one end time war — the one that has been
popularized in movies and novels as the “Battle of Armageddon.”
The concept comes from the book of Revelation where it says that armies will gather
in the end times at a place “which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon” (Revelation 16:16).
This term literally means the Mount of Megiddo and refers to the ancient fortress of Megiddo
that controlled the Valley of Jezreel. In English the word was transliterated as Armageddon,
and the term came to be applied to the Valley of Jezreel which lies in front of Har-Magedon,
running diagonally across Israel from Haifa to the Jordan River.
Most people are surprised to discover that there is no reference in the book of
Revelation, or any other place in the Bible to the “Valley of Armageddon,” nor is there any
reference to the “Battle of Armageddon” — but more about that later. People are even more
surprised to learn that Bible prophecy reveals nine wars in the end times and that
Armageddon relates to only one of these.
The Next Prophetic War
Most prophetic scholars have long believed that the next great end time war will be
the War of Gog & Magog that is described in Ezekiel 38 and 39. This, for example is the
stated position of Joel Rosenberg in his popular book, Epicenter. This war will start when
Russia invades Israel with certain specified allies, all of whom are Muslim nations today.
But I seriously doubt that the conflict described in Ezekiel 38 and 39 will be the next
war of end time Bible prophecy. There are two reasons why I feel this way.
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First, there is a condition for the war of Ezekiel 38 and 39 that has not been met. Three
times in Ezekiel 38 — in verses 8, 11, and 14 — it states that the war described in that chapter
will not occur until the people of Israel are living “securely” in “unwalled villages.”
Israel is not living in security today. It is bombarded daily by missiles from Gaza, and
it is constantly under the threat of missile attacks from Hezbollah in Lebanon. There is also
the ever present threat of terrorist attacks, a threat that has forced Israel to construct a 400
mile long wall down the center of the country. In short, it is laughable today to even think of
the Jewish people of Israel as living “securely” in “unwalled villages.”
The second reason I doubt that the war of Ezekiel 38 and 39 will be the next end time
war of Bible prophecy is because the nations mentioned in Ezekiel 38:5-6 as the allies of
Russia do not include a single Arab state with a border adjacent to Israel. The nations
identified are Persia (Iran), Cush (most likely modern day Sudan), Put (Libya and possibly
Algeria and Tunisia), and two regions that lie within modern day Turkey (Gomer and
Bethtogarmah). There is no mention of the nations that share a common border with Israel
— namely, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and Gaza.
Why are the nations located next to Israel not mentioned as allies of Russia? I believe
the best explanation of this mystery is the one supplied by Bill Salus in his book, Isralestine.
He proposes that the next end time prophetic war will be the one described in Psalm 83, a
war between Israel and its neighbors. He believes this war will produce the conditions that
are necessary for the war of Ezekiel 38 and 39, and I agree with that conclusion.
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With that point clarified, let’s now take an overview of the end time prophetic wars
in their likely chronological sequence.
1) The War of Extermination — Psalm 83
The psalm states that the immediate neighbors of Israel will launch a war for the
purpose of “wiping out Israel as a nation” (verse 4). The nations described as being a part of
this nefarious effort are those with a common border with Israel today (verses 6-8). The rest
of the psalm is a prayer for the victory of Israel (verses 9-18).
The outcome of the war is not stated, but we know from other scriptures that Israel
will be victorious. For example, in Zechariah 12:6 we are told that in the end times Israel will
be like “a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will
consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples…” Also, in Amos 9:15
we are told that once the Jews are re-established in their land, “they will not again be rooted
out from their land.”
Bill Salus believes this war will result in an overwhelming victory for Israel, resulting
in great territorial expansion and enhanced national resources. It will also produce the
security spoken of in Ezekiel 38.
2) The First War of Gog & Magog — Ezekiel 38 and 39
But the security provided by the Psalm 83 war will not last long. The Arab nations
will turn to their natural ally, Russia, and cry out for help.
And the Russians will be very happy to respond, for they have always dreamed of
taking the oil fields of the Middle East. They will, therefore, launch an invasion for the stated
purpose of helping the Muslims destroy Israel, but their unstated agenda will be to use the
Arab invitation as an excuse to expand their sovereignty over all the Middle East. This
ulterior motive is described in Ezekiel 38:12 where it says the Russians will come “to capture
spoil and to seize plunder.”
The invading armies will be supernaturally destroyed by God “on the mountains of
Israel” (Ezekiel 39:4). The Lord will accomplish this destruction through earthquakes,
pestilence, hail storms, fire, brimstone, and battlefield confusion (Ezekiel 38:19-22). Even
the Jewish people will recognize that the victory belongs to the Lord, and many will open
their hearts to the Lord (Ezekiel 38:23). In fact, this event could mark the occasion when the
144,000 Jews of Revelation 7:1-8 accept Yeshua as their Messiah and are sealed by the Lord
for special service throughout the seven-year period of the Tribulation.
The greatest mystery concerning this war is its timing. Most have placed it at the
beginning of the Tribulation. Others delay its start to the middle of the Tribulation.
Increasingly in recent years, the tendency has been to place it before the beginning of the
Tribulation.
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The best discussion of timing that has yet been written can be found in Ron Rhodes’
book, Northern Storm Rising. He concludes that it is most likely to occur 3 1/2 years prior to
the Tribulation. One of his most important reasons for this conclusion is that Ezekiel 39:9
says the Jews will spend seven years burning the weapons captured in the war, and the book
of Revelation says they will be run out of the land in the middle of the Tribulation (Revelation
12:13-17). Since the middle of the Tribulation will occur 3 1/2 years into that seven-year
period, that means the only way the Jews could spend seven years burning the weapons is for
the war to start at least 3 1/2 years before the Tribulation begins. (Note: The “burning of
weapons” could refer to captured nuclear fuel.)
Does this mean the wars of Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38 and 39 must occur before the
Rapture? Not at all. The Rapture could occur any time before, during, or after these wars.
Keep in mind that the Rapture is not what marks the beginning of the Tribulation. The
Tribulation will begin when the Antichrist signs a security treaty with Israel (Daniel 9:27).
There could be a period of several years between the Rapture and the beginning of the
Tribulation.
3) The Conventional War of the Tribulation — Revelation 6
The book of Revelation states that a major world war will break out soon after the
Tribulation begins. This war is described in Revelation 6.
© Pat Marvenko Smith

(www.revelationillustrated.com)
Although the Antichrist will rise to world power in Europe through cunning,
deception, and intrigue (Daniel 8:23), he will have to resort to military power to conquer the
world. Asia, Africa, and South America have spent too long casting off the shackles of
European colonialism for them to suddenly surrender their sovereignty peacefully to a new
European dictator — regardless of how brilliant and charismatic he may be.
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We are told in Revelation 13:7 that the Antichrist will ultimately achieve “authority
over every tribe and people and tongue and nation.” This authority will be achieved through
war. Revelation 6 records the outbreak of this world war. It results in the death of one-fourth
of humanity, or 1.5 billion in today’s terms (Revelation 6:8).
The War of Psalm 83 results in the destruction of the inner ring of Muslim states
around Israel. The War of Ezekiel 38 and 39 produces the defeat of the immediate outer ring
of Muslim states.
But the vast majority of all Muslims live outside the Middle East, the largest Muslim
nations being Indonesia (201 million), India (144 million), Pakistan (140 million), and
Bangladesh (115 million). These nations are the ones who are most likely to produce the
strongest resistance to a Western, non-Muslim dictator, and they will be destroyed either in
this war or the one that follows it.
In other words, I believe God is going to use the Antichrist as His hammer of wrath
to destroy Islam.
But many other nations in the world will also have to be subdued, and that leads us to
the next war of the end times.
4) The Nuclear War of the Tribulation — Revelation 8 & 9
At some point, the book of Revelation indicates that the conventional war will morph
into a nuclear holocaust, resulting in the deaths of another one-third of Mankind, or another
1.5 billion people (Revelation 9:15). This means that in the first two wars of the Tribulation,
more than one half of humanity will die.
A hint that the conventional war will become a nuclear one is found in Revelation 8:7
where it states that the escalation of the war will result in one-third of the earth being burned
up. Another hint is found in Revelation 16:2-11 where we are told that “loathsome and
malignant” sores will afflict people at the end of the Tribulation, something that would be a
natural consequence of radiation from the use of nuclear weapons.
It could very well be that this nuclear holocaust could be what Jesus had in mind when
He stated that in the end times men will faint from fear over the expectation of the things
coming upon the world, “for the powers of the heavens will be shaken” (Luke 21:26).
This war is portrayed in the book of Revelation in chapters 8-9 as a series of “Trumpet
Judgments.”
5) The War in the Heavens — Revelation 12
The next end time war is totally different in nature from all the rest. It is a supernatural
one that will occur in the heavens in the middle of the Tribulation. It is most likely prompted
by an attempt of Satan to once again take the throne of God.
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Satan and his angels are opposed in this war by Michael and his angels. Michael is an
archangel who is pictured in the Hebrew Scriptures as the commander-in-chief of the armies
of God (Daniel 10:13, 21 and 12:1). Michael and his angels prevail in this war, and Satan is
cast down to earth. His access to God’s throne is cut off (Revelation 12:9-10).
When this happens, Satan realizes that his time is short because he knows Bible
prophecy (Revelation 12:12). In his rage, Satan decides to destroy the Jewish people, and this
decision leads to the next war.
6) The War Against the Jews and the Saints — Revelation 12
Satan hates the Jews with a passion for several reasons:
1. They are the Chosen People of God.

2. God used them to provide the Scriptures to the world.
3. It was through them that the Messiah came.
4. God has promised that He will bring a great remnant of them to faith in His Son at
the end of the Tribulation.
There is going to be another holocaust during the latter half of the Tribulation. When
Satan is cast down to earth, he will possess the Antichrist (Revelation 13:2) and inspire him
to annihilate all the Jews. This is the reason that Jesus referred to the last half of the
Tribulation as “the great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21) — not because this half will be worse
than the first half, but because the wrath of Satan will be focused on the Jews.
Some of the Jews of Israel will flee to a place in the “wilderness” where they will be
supernaturally protected by God (Revelation 12:13-14). Many believe this hiding place will
be the ancient city of Petra, located inside a box canyon in modern Jordan. There is good
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reason for this assumption because Daniel 11:41 says the Antichrist will be prevented from
conquering Jordan when it is part of an end time rebellion.
But Zechariah 13:8 indicates that two-thirds of the Jewish people will be killed by the
Antichrist during this time, and Revelation 12:17 says the Antichrist will also war against the
“offspring” of Israel — namely, those “who keep the commandments of God and hold to the
testimony of Jesus.” I believe this is a reference to all those who accept Jesus as their Lord
and Savior during the Tribulation, both Jews and Gentiles.
It is no wonder that Revelation 7:9-14 pictures a great multitude of martyrs in Heaven,

so great that it cannot be counted. They are identified as “the ones who are coming out of the
great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb” (Revelation 7:14).
So, the Antichrist will be very successful in his war against the Jews and the Saints, but
he will fail in his ultimate goal of annihilating all the Jews. For we are told repeatedly
throughout the Scriptures that a great remnant of the Jews will live to the end of the
Tribulation at which time they will receive Yeshua as their Messiah. (See: Isaiah 10:20-23;
Zechariah 12:10; Romans 9:27-28; and Romans 11:25-26.)
7) The Middle East Campaign of the Antichrist — Daniel 11
Daniel 11:40-45 describes a military campaign of the Antichrist in the Middle East
that occurs at the end of the Tribulation.These verses and related verses in Revelation could
very well indicate that when the Antichrist becomes insanely obsessed with destroying the
Jews and the Saints, the nations of the world will see an opportunity to rebel against him.
The nations in the Middle East will be led by the “king of the North” (most likely Syria) and
the “king of the South” (Egypt). The Antichrist responds by invading “the Beautiful Land”
and subduing all the area except Jordan.
But just as he seems to be completely victorious, he hears “rumors from the East and
from the North” that deeply disturb him. He retreats with his armies to the area “between the
seas” where “he will come to his end.” The geographical description here of a location
between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Galilee corresponds to the Valley of
Armageddon.
I believe the rumors that frighten him are, in part, the news that “the kings from the
East” (Revelation 16:12) who are bringing huge armies from Asia have arrived at the
Euphrates River and are ready to cross into Israel to challenge him. The rumors from the
North could relate to a reconstituted rebellious army from Russia.
8) The Battle of Armageddon — Joel 3, Zechariah 14, and Revelation 19
It appears that just as the armies from the East and the North start arriving in the
Valley of Armageddon to challenge the Antichrist, the Lord breaks from the heavens, returns
to the Mount of Olives, speaks a supernatural word, and all the armies are instantly destroyed.
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In other words, there really is no such thing as the “Battle of Armageddon.” The
armies are assembled to do battle, but the Lord annihilates all of them in a microsecond “with
the breath of His mouth” (2 Thessalonians 2:8).
Joel 3:16 says the Lord will “roar from Zion” and “utter His voice from Jerusalem.”
Isaiah 10:16 says the result will be “a wasting disease.” Zechariah 14:12 says it will be a
plague that will cause the flesh of the soldiers “to rot while they stand on their feet.” Their
eyes will rot in their sockets and their tongues will rot in their mouths. It will be like the
explosion of a neutron bomb.
9) The Second Battle of Gog & Magog — Revelation 20
Mercifully and joyfully, the “battle” of Armageddon will be followed by one thousand years
of peace as the reign of Jesus from Jerusalem results in the world being filled with
righteousness and justice (Isaiah 11:4-5,9). Swords will be beat into plowshares and spears
into pruning hooks, and “nation will not lift up sword against nation…” (Isaiah 2:4). All the
money that is spent today on armaments will be spent on agricultural implements. The world
will be flooded with agricultural abundance (Amos 9:13). There will be no homeless or
hungry people. Every man will have his own vineyard and orchard (Micah 4:4).
Satan will be bound (Revelation 20:1-3). Sin and crime will be greatly reduced. But
there will be seething rebellion in the hearts of many, if not most, that are born during that
time.
This is hard for most people to understand. Why would there be resentment in the
hearts of people in the midst of such a perfect reign of Jesus?
The initial population of the Millennium will be all those, both Jew and Gentile, who
live to the end of the Tribulation and who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. All others
will be consigned to death when the Lord returns. So, the Millennium will begin with only
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believers. But they will begin to propagate, and since death will be curtailed and life spans
will be greatly extended (Isaiah 65:20), the population of the world will grow exponentially.
Those born during this time will still have the old sin nature. They will desire all the
things of the flesh — booze, drugs, gambling, and promiscuous sex. But they will see that
any violation of the Law of God results in swift and certain justice. Immediate arrest will be
followed by an immediate trial and an immediate judgment. There will be no appeal, for all
judges will be Saints in glorified bodies who will make perfect decisions. So, the average
person in the flesh will say, “I love you Jesus!” but he or she will do so with clinched teeth.
The Bible states repeatedly that Jesus will rule with “a rod of iron” (Psalm 2:9 and
Revelation 2:26-27). And despite the fact that His reign will produce righteousness, fairness,
and perfect justice (Isaiah 11:4-5), most of those living in the flesh will deeply resent the fact
that they cannot freely pursue their worldly lusts.
It is no wonder that when Satan is released at the end of the Lord’s millennial reign
(Revelation 20:7), the majority of those in the flesh will unite in one last rebellion against
God that is pictured in Revelation 20:7-9. Led once again by Gog & Magog, this war is often
confused with the war of Ezekiel 38 and 39. But the two are very different. The Ezekiel war
pictures Russia coming against the nation of Israel with certain specified allies. In Revelation
20 Russia is portrayed as leading all the nations of the world against Jesus Christ.
History is going to end as it began. It started out with two people living in a perfect
society, but deciding to rebel against their Creator. It ends with all of humanity living in a
perfect society, and the majority making the same decision to rebel against God.
One of the many purposes of the Millennium is for God to prove that Mankind’s
inherent sin defect can be remedied only by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus as Lord
and Savior.
The religion of Satan has always been Humanism — the belief in Man. This
philosophy teaches that Man is inherently good and is capable of perfection through
education and social justice. Humanists therefore believe that if society can be perfected by
supplying each person with a guaranteed job and income, Mankind will be transformed.
But the Bible teaches that Mankind is fatally flawed with a sin nature that makes
people naturally evil (Jeremiah 17:9). And the Bible teaches that the only solution to the
problem is the transformation of the Holy Spirit that begins when a person accepts Jesus as
Lord and Savior. God will prove this beyond doubt when He puts all of Mankind into a
perfect society for one thousand years and Mankind responds in rebellion.
The Abolition of War
The Second War of Gog & Magog will be the final war of history. Following it, God
will take the Redeemed off the earth and place them in the New Jerusalem He is now
preparing. He will then consume the earth with fire to burn away the pollution of Satan’s last
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revolt. Out of that fiery inferno will come new heavens and a new earth — this earth
redeemed and perfected (2 Peter 3:10-13). He will then lower the Redeemed down to this
earth inside the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2-7), and He will come to earth to live in their
presence eternally (Revelation 22:1-4).
Eternal peace is coming. War is going to be gone forever. This hope of Mankind will
not be achieved by diplomats. It will be a gift of God through Jesus Christ who died to redeem
Mankind and all the Cosmos.
Source: http://christinprophecy.org/articles/the-wars-of-the-end-times/
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WHAT IS THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON?
(JW.org)
The battle of Armageddon refers to the final war between human governments and
God. These governments and their supporters oppose God even now by refusing to submit
to his rulership. (Psalm 2:2) The battle of Armageddon will bring human rulership to an
end.—Daniel 2:44.
The word “Armageddon” occurs only once in the Bible, at Revelation 16:16.
Prophetically, Revelation shows that at “the place that is called in Hebrew Armageddon,”
“the kings of the entire inhabited earth” will be gathered “together to the war of the great day
of God the Almighty.”—Revelation 16:14.
Who will fight at Armageddon? Jesus Christ will lead a heavenly army to victory
over God’s enemies. (Revelation 19:11-16, 19-21) These enemies include those who oppose
God’s authority and who treat God with contempt.—Ezekiel 39:7.
Will Armageddon literally be fought in the Middle East? No. Rather than being
restricted to one area, the battle of Armageddon will encompass the whole earth.—Jeremiah
25:32-34; Ezekiel 39:17-20.
Armageddon, sometimes rendered “Har–Magedon” (Hebrew Har Meghiddohnʹ),

means “Mountain of Megiddo.” Megiddo was once a city in the territory of ancient Israel.
History tells of decisive battles that were fought in its vicinity, including some that are
recorded in the Bible. (Judges 5:19, 20; 2 Kings 9:27; 23:29) However, Armageddon cannot
refer to the literal area near ancient Megiddo. There is no large mountain there, and even the
entire adjoining Low Plain of Jezreel could not contain all those who will fight against God.
Instead, Armageddon is the worldwide situation in which the nations assemble in their last
stand against rule by God.
What will conditions be like during the battle of Armageddon? While we do not
know how God will use his power, he will have at his disposal weapons such as those he has
used in the past—hail, earthquake, flooding downpour, fire and sulfur, lightning, and disease.
(Job 38:22, 23; Ezekiel 38:19, 22; Habakkuk 3:10, 11; Zechariah 14:12) In confusion, at least
some of God’s enemies will kill each other, yet they will ultimately realize that it is God who
is fighting against them.—Ezekiel 38:21, 23; Zechariah 14:13.
Will Armageddon be the end of the world? It will not be the end of our planet,
since the earth is mankind’s eternal home. (Psalm 37:29; 96:10; Ecclesiastes 1:4) Rather than
destroying humanity, Armageddon actually saves it, because “a great crowd” of God’s
servants will survive.—Revelation 7:9, 14; Psalm 37:34.
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Besides referring to the earth, though, the word “world” in the Bible sometimes refers
to wicked human society opposed to God. (1 John 2:15-17) In this sense, Armageddon will
bring “the end of the world.”—Matthew 24:3, King James Version.
When will Armageddon take place? When discussing the “great tribulation” that
culminates in the battle of Armageddon, Jesus said: “Concerning that day and hour nobody
knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father.” (Matthew 24:21,
36) Nevertheless, the Bible does show that Armageddon takes place during Jesus’ invisible
presence, which began in 1914.—Matthew 24:37-39.
Source: https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/battle-of-armageddon/
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WHAT IS THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON?
(GotQuestions.org)
Answer: The word “Armageddon” comes from a Hebrew word Har-Magedone,

which means “Mount Megiddo” and has become synonymous with the future battle in which
God will intervene and destroy the armies of the Antichrist as predicted in biblical prophecy
(Revelation 16:16; 20:1-3). There will be a multitude of people engaged in the battle of
Armageddon, as all the nations gather together to fight against Christ.
The exact location of the valley of Armageddon is unclear because there is no

mountain called Meggido. However, since “Har” can also mean hill, the most likely location
is the hill country surrounding the plain of Meggido, some sixty miles north of Jerusalem.
More than two hundred battles have been fought in that region. The plain of Megiddo and
the nearby plain of Esdraelon will be the focal point for the battle of Armageddon, which
will rage the entire length of Israel as far south as the Edomite city of Bozrah (Isaiah 63:1).
The valley of Armageddon was famous for two great victories in Israel’s history: 1) Barak’s
victory over the Canaanites (Judges 4:15) and 2) Gideon’s victory over the Midianites
(Judges 7). Armageddon was also the site for two great tragedies: 1) the death of Saul and
his sons (1 Samuel 31:8) and 2) the death of King Josiah (2 Kings 23:29-30; 2 Chronicles
35:22).
Because of this history, the valley of Armageddon became a symbol of the final
conflict between God and the forces of evil. The word “Armageddon” only occurs in
Revelation 16:16, “Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called
Armageddon.” This speaks of the kings who are loyal to the Antichrist gathering together for
a final assault on Israel. At Armageddon “the cup filled with the wine of the fury of [God’s]
wrath” (Revelation 16:19) will be delivered, and the Antichrist and his followers will be
overthrown and defeated. “Armageddon” has become a general term that refers to the end of
the world, not exclusively to the battle that takes place in the plain of Megiddo.
Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/battle-Armageddon.html
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Revelation 20
REVELATION 20
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. Premillennialists of all sorts insist that the thousand years must be a literal period of
time.
2. Premillennialists claim that this chapter teaches literal reign of Christ on earth.
3. The saints will be raised a thousand years before the sinners and that this is the “first
resurrection”
4. There will be a literal battle in Palestine between Satan and his hosts and Jesus and
his saints
5. Resurrected saints will live among and reign over people who have never died.
Doctrine Defeated.
1. The 1000 years only is found in Revelation, so, it is not good exegesis to build an
entire system of eschatology, a philosophy of history, on such a highly symbolic
passage, particularly when that interpretation conflicts with other plain passages of
scripture.
2. The number 1000 is a symbol for completeness with no time implication.
3. The coming of Jesus to the earth is neither said nor implied in this chapter.
4. The resurrection of bodies from the grave is not mentioned in this chapter
5. There is no mention of Jesus Christ reigning on the earth
6. Literal thrones on earth are not mentioned here.
7. The righteous are to be raised from the dead the last day (John 6:40).
8. The wicked dead are to be raised the same hour, therefore the same day (John 5:29).
9. The dead, great and small, all humanity, are to be in the same judgment on the day of
judgment; the righteous are to go away into eternal life and the wicked, and people
who know not God, are to go away from that judgment into eternal punishment in the
lake of fire and brimstone and be tormented with the devil whom they served (2
Corinthians 5:10).
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True
TRUE
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REVELATION 20: THE MILLENNIUM
(Jack P. Lewis)
The subject of Revelation 20 is not the Millennium as is popularly thought, but is the
imprisonment of Satan and the destruction of Satan, Death, Hades, and those whose names
are not in the book of life.
The writer of the book has given a view of the persecuted church (chs. 1-3) and of the
praise of God in heaven (chs. 4-5) which should be contrasted with the flattery Caesar
receives in his court. Despite appearances on earth, God is in his heavens. In symbols, the
writer presents the cause of the persecution as Satan being cast from heaven to earth and
expending his wrath on the faithful. His henchmen are the sea beast which probably
represents the emperor of Rome, and the earth beast which sponsors the worship of the beast.
The alternatives for the Christian are plain. He can worship the beast, receive his
mark, and live only to suffer eternal torment; or he can forfeit his life and live with Christ
forever. A blessing is pronounced on those who die in the Lord. But despite the present
suffering, the outcome of the struggle is certain. The fate of Babylon (that is, of Rome),
drunken on the blood of martyrs, is announced. The rider on the white horse is victorious and
the beast and false prophet who have caused the trouble are cast into the lake of fire.
A single angel from heaven imprisons Satan in the bottomless pit for a thousand years.
Those who have been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus live and reign with Christ a
thousand years. After the thousand years, Satan is loosed for a little while to seduce Gog and
Magog into an attack on the beloved city; but fire from heaven destroys them. Satan is cast
into the lake of fire. The dead are gathered before a great white throne, books are opened,
and the dead are judged according to their works. Death, Hades, and those whose names are
not in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire. The contrast between the fates of Satan,
Death, Hades, and those not in the book of life, and of those beheaded who reign with Christ
is striking. The purpose of this material is to assure the persecuted of final and total victory
and that the writer had the purpose of presenting a scheme for the ages is doubtful.
ESCHATOLOGICAL SYSTEMS
The book of Revelation is replete with symbols which suggest that literalness in its
interpretation is misplaced. Other symbols within Revelation 20 itself raise questions when
it is asserted that one thousand years must be taken literally.
Various eschatological systems using the chapter are named from the time they assign
to the second coming of Christ in relation to the thousand years (the millennium) it mentions.
Postmillennialists see the millennium developing out of the present age before Christ returns.
Premillennialists affirm that Christ will return to reign before the millennium sets in; but they
divide into historic premillennialists and Dispensationalists. Distinguishing between the
church and Israel, in addition to looking for a millennium, Dispensationalists insist on literal
future fulfillment of promises to Abraham of land, to David of a lasting throne, and to Israel
as a nation. Dispensationalists divide into old line and Progressive views. Those people who
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believe that Revelation 20 in the one thousand years is speaking symbolically of other than
a literal period of time is known as Amillennialists.
On the present scene, there is far more excitement about what is projected to happen
in the Dispensational program before the millennium (the rapture, the rebuilding of the
temple, the Great Tribulation, the appearance of the Antichrist, and the battle of
Armageddon) than there is in the millennium itself. Revelation 20 says nothing about these
various preliminary matters. On the assumption (in the light of a reading of Psalm 90:4 and
2 Peter 3:10) that each the six days of creation represent a thousand years; some people expect
history to last six thousand years. Joined to the dayage theory is Ussher’s chronology which
assigned four thousand years of history before Christ came and two thousand after that to the
end of the world. These people couple those assumptions with a misinterpretation of Jesus’
statement about the fall of Jerusalem (Mt. 24:34) to assume that one generation, after the
founding of the state of Israel in 1948, the end must come. This also brings them to about
A.D. 2000. All of this speculation lies outside of anything said in Revelation 20.
About conditions in the thousand years itself, Revelation 20 only says two things.
First, that the Devil is bound, and second, that those beheaded for the testimony of Jesus live
and reign while the rest of the dead do not live until its end. No person is satisfied with such
sparsity; hence, portions of texts like Isaiah 11:3-9; 65:17-25, and other O.T. passages which
describe transformation of nature are called on. The problem that these passages describe the
new heaven and earth is dealt with by alleging that the conditions will start in the millennium
and continue into the eternal state. Amillennialists would apply them only to the eternal state.
Revelation 20 tells nothing about who is reigned over in the one thousand years, about a reign
in Jerusalem, about Jews, about immortal people reigning over mortal people, or about
idealistic conditions. All of these alleged things are imported by their advocates from outside
the chapter.
EXEGETICAL ISSUES: SYMBOL OR LITERAL?
Certain exegetical issues separate various treatments of Revelation 20. The most
fundamental of these is that of which items in the chapter are symbolic and which are literal.
The book of Revelation is replete with symbols, and chapter 20 has symbols like the key, the
chain, Gog and Magog. While there may be more difference of opinion over the meaning of
a symbol than over a literal statement, a symbol expresses a meaning just as a literal statement
does.
The allegation that all O.T. prophecies concerning the first coming of Christ were
literally fulfilled is patently false. Elijah’s appearance (Mt. 17:9-13), the road building
program (Mt. 3:3), and “Out of Egypt have I called my Son” (Mt. 2:15) are only three of the
non-literal interpretations. [All scripture references are from the King James Version unless
otherwise noted.] A precedent is not established by N.T. use of O.T. material that all O.T.
prophecies must be literally fulfilled. Some prophecies are conditional (Jer. 18:7-10). The
declaration that the kingdom will be taken from Israel (Mt. 21:42) does not enter
eschatological discussion to the extent it should.
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THE BINDING OF SATAN
Satan is denoted by four names: the dragon, the ancient serpent, the devil, and Satan,
each of which has a prior biblical history. Five verbs describe his imprisonment: “seized,”
“bound,” “threw,” “shut,” and “sealed.” The premillennialist assumes that the second coming
of Christ was narrated in chapter 19 and that the binding describes future action after that
coming of Christ, resulting in total cessation of activity on earth by the Devil. He observes
the crime, wars, and immorality in current society and refuses to believe the Devil is bound.
He looks for fierce activity when the Devil is loosed for a little while.
The opposite mind observes that no specific time is affirmed in Revelation 20 for the
binding making it to be after the second coming. Jesus came into the world to destroy the
works of the Devil (1 Jn. 3:8); he said that one cannot spoil the house of the strong man
without first binding the strong man (Mt. 12:29). As a result of his disciples’ mission, he said
that he saw Satan as lightning falling from heaven (Lk. 10:18). The Epistle of John assures
the believer that he is kept from the evil one (1 Jn. 5:18). On these bases, he identifies the
binding of Satan with the Lord’s first coming as meaning a limitation on Satan’s activity
though not a total cessation. He also sees the success of the Gospel as evidence of that
binding.
THE THOUSAND YEARS
Premillennialists of all sorts insist that the thousand years must be a literal period of
time though the Postmillennialists are willing to grant that it may be a long period not
explicitly one thousand years. In the midst of the symbols, it is contended that this figure
must be understood literally. The term occurs six times in Revelation 20:2-7 and nowhere
else in Scripture.
Opponents note that number symbolism plays a role in the Book of Revelation in the
use of three, five, seven, ten, and twelve. In the O.T. a thousand is often a round figure for a
large number (Psa. 50:10; 90:4; etc.). Augustine observed that it is ten raised to the third
power. Hence, it is considered a symbol for completeness with no time implication, long or
short.
LIVED AND REIGNED
The text describes seeing thrones and seeing the souls of those beheaded for the
testimony of Jesus living and reigning with Christ. These are likely identical with those
earlier seen in Revelation 6:9-11. The exegetical issue turns on two points. The first is
whether one or two groups are described. If the conjunction “and” (kai) is coordinate, there
are two; if it is explanatory there is only one. In that case, the beheaded are further described
as those who have not received the mark of the beast. The seventh beatitude of the book is
expressed over them. Only if there are two groups seen can one claim an inclusion of all
righteous people as is often done. If only the beheaded are included, the statement has little
personal application to the mass of believers.
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The second issue concerns the meaning of the verb “lived” (ezesan) used in verses 5
and 6 and the meaning of “resurrection.” Some lived and some did not live. Though
Premillennialists recognize that John 5:25-29 uses life for spiritual resurrection and then for
bodily resurrection in the same setting, they reject that possibility here, insisting that the
context makes plain the double usage in the Gospel of John but not here. These verses in
Revelation 20 become the foundation for their insistence on two future bodily resurrections.
The alleged span of time separating them they derive from other texts.
The opposing mind observes that Scripture knows both physical and spiritual death.
Though the term “first death” does not occur, “the second death” is made plain as the lake of
fire. The interpreter may espouse either of two alternatives about “living.” The beheaded,
though dead, live. Those in chapter 6 are seen under the altar and those in Revelation 15:2
are seen with harps of God in their hands. Jesus argued that Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob,
though dead, were alive (Mt. 22:32). This view wrestles with the problem of calling bodiless
existence a “resurrection.” The other alternative argues that the first resurrection is when
those dead in trespasses and sins are made alive and are raised with Christ to sit in heavenly
places (Rm. 6:4, 8-11; Eph. 2:5-6; Col. 3:1). Those not regenerated do not live.
The premillennialist is emphatic that the reigning spoken of has to be on the earth. He
supplies the details he projects for the reign from compilations of other passages. He assures
himself of “on the earth” from Revelation 5:10, choosing the textual variant which offers a
future tense. He argues that in Revelation 20 the previous action of the angel with Satan is
on earth and he concludes that the reigning spoken of is also there. But the opposite mind
points out that in some places Christians are said to reign now (Rm. 5:17, 21; 2 Tim. 2:12);
they do not have to wait until after the second coming. Christians are now a royal priesthood
(1 Pet. 2:9; Rev. 1:6), and if one takes the present tense textual variant of reign, Revelation
5:10 also supports the same idea. In the book of Revelation there is a shifting viewpoint from
earth to heaven in descriptions. The Devil could be on earth and the thrones exist in heaven.
MILLENNIAL PROBLEMS AN INTERMEDIATE REIGN?
The premillennial interpretation wrestles with unsolvable problems. In Revelation 20
the reign of Christ is only mentioned when the beheaded are said to reign with him. In the
chapter, nothing is explicit about where that reign is, how long it lasts, or what its conditions
are. All interpreters must grant that Christ is reigning now. At his ascension, he was exalted
to the right hand of God. His kingdom exists now and believers are transferred into it (Col.
1:13). There is also a future kingdom to be inherited by the righteous at the judgment (Mt.
25:34; cf. 1 Cor. 6:9-10; Gal. 5:21). Christ is to reign until death is destroyed at which time
he yields the kingdom to the Father (1 Cor. 15:24). There is no place for an interim reign on
a throne in Jerusalem. To occupy it, he would have to leave the throne on which he now sits.
The period beginning at Pentecost is called the last days (Acts 2:17; Heb. 1:1; 1 Cor.
10:11), and John speaks of it being the last hour (1 Jn. 2:18). These texts leave no room for
an intermediate reign between the present kingdom and the eternal kingdom.
Premillennialists have struggled hard to put such a period between the “thens” of 1
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Corinthians 15:23;7 but it will not fit. The Parable of the Tares in the Field also does not have
a place for an intermediate reign. The separation of evil and good comes at the close of the
age (Mt. 13:40-41). There is no period prior to that when there is only good.
TWO COMINGS OF CHRIST?
The often-postulated distinction between the coming of Christ for his saints and with
his saints is not biblical. In 1 Thessalonians 3:13 angels are likely spoken of as accompanying
the Lord. The “first” of 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 is a contrast between action of the dead and
the living, not between the righteous and the wicked. Christ comes with the clouds and every
eye shall see him (Rev. 1:7). He will be revealed with his mighty angels in flaming fire (2
Thes. 1:7). A valid time distinction between second coming words (parousia, epiphania, and
apocalypsis) cannot be maintained. Paul hoped for an appearing of the Lord at which he and
others would receive their crowns (Tit. 2:13; 2 Tim. 4:8).
TWO FUTURE RESURRECTIONS?
In numerous Scripture passages the resurrection of the righteous and wicked are
mentioned together (Dan. 12:2; Jn. 5:28-29; Acts 24:15), and that of the believer is placed at
the last day (Jn. 6:39-40, 44, 54). Paul expected a transformation of the living at the Lord’s
coming and to be caught up with the dead (1 Cor. 15:51-52; 1 Thes. 4:17). The assertion that
these statements do not prohibit a thousand years from being between the two resurrections
is hardly convincing. Neither is that which on the principle of progressive revelation claims
that Revelation 20 makes known what would never have been dreamed of from what was
previously revealed on the question. It is all the less so when it affirms a resurrection of the
righteous a thousand years before the last day.
TWO FUTURE JUDGMENTS?
The affirmation of the Gospel of John that the believer will not come into judgment
(Jn. 5:24) should be understood as “come into condemnation,” not that he will not be present
at the final judgment. The Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Mt. 25:31-46) teaches a
judgment in which both righteous and wicked will be present and receive their respective
verdicts. That judgment is set at the last day (Jn. 12:48). The separation of the wheat and
tares in that parable is at the close of the age (Mt. 13:40-41).
All will stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive good or evil (2 Cor. 5:10).
Christ comes to repay every person for what he has done (Mt. 16:27). Paul spoke of a day in
which God would judge the world (Acts 17:31). While the judgment scene in Revelation
20:11-15 does not mention the living, it does affirm a judgment of all the dead. Revelation
11:18 speaks of judging the dead and of rewarding the Lord’s servants.
There is no valid reason for making the judgment of the Great White Throne a
different one separated in time from that of Matthew 25. The point being made by the writer
of Revelation 20 is that Death, Hades, and those whose names are not in the book of life are
cast into the lake of fire. The writer describes the reward of the righteous in the following
chapters.
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CLOSING ADMONITION
While we struggle to bring every thought into obedience to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5), it is
crucial that we do not allow the millennial debate to smother our “looking for the blessed
hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Tit. 2:13).
We must not, as the wicked servant in the parable (Mt. 24:49), allow ourselves to fall into
life styles that rob us of our crown.
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “At His Coming” - 1998, Jack P Lewis: The
Revelation 20: The Millennium. Pages 235-241.
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REVELATION 20 – ANALYSIS AND EXEGESIS
(Roy H. Lanier Sr.)
I. MOST PREMILLENIAL DOCTRINES BASED ON THIS CHAPTER
The idea that there will be a period of one thousand years, no more and no less, of
peace and spirituality on this earth under the reign of Jesus Christ who will be assisted by the
saints, is based on a literal interpretation of things said in this chapter.
Next, the idea that Jesus Christ will return to earth, reign over the entire earth from
old Jerusalem is based on a faulty interpretation of this chapter.
Next, that the saints will be raised a thousand years before the sinners and that this is
the “first resurrection” of this chapter is a faulty interpretation.
That there will be a literal battle in Palestine between Satan and his hosts and Jesus
and his saints is based on a faulty interpretation of this chapter.
The idea that resurrected saints will live among and reign over people who have never
died is based on a faulty interpretation of things said in this chapter.
II. SOME PREMILLENIAL DOCTRINES NOT TAUGHT
(1) The idea that the devil is bound with a literal chain and cast into a literal pit which
is literally sealed over him for one thousand years is not taught in this chapter. Nor is it taught
that Satan exercises no influence at all on anybody during the thousand years.
(2) The doctrine of the second coming of Jesus before the thousand years of this
chapter is also a false doctrine. The coming of Jesus to the earth is neither said nor implied
in this chapter.
(3) Next, a resurrection of bodies from the grave is not mentioned in this chapter.
Though the word resurrection is used, if it is taken to mean a literal raising of bodies from
the grave other plain non-figurative statements of scripture will be contradicted.
(4) Next, there is no mention of Jesus Christ reigning on the earth. In fact, it is the
reign of saints who are with Christ that is mentioned in this chapter.
(5) Literal thrones on earth are not mentioned here. When John said, he saw thrones
he simply meant that he saw saints who were once persecuted while in the flesh but who are
now in positions of power. Nor did John say these thrones were on earth. Nor did John say
that he saw resurrected saints; he said he saw the souls of people who had died for the Lord.
If he saw only the souls this is proof that their bodies had not yet been raised from the dead.
This being true we must conclude that the location of these thrones was not on the earth, but
in heaven with Christ.
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(6) Next, Jerusalem is not mentioned. Though “the beloved city” is mentioned, it
cannot be the literal city in Palestine which God destroyed for its sins. To think of the millions
of resurrected saints in literal Jerusalem, plus the millions of saints living at the time of the
coming of Jesus, being camped in Jerusalem with the billions supporting Satan being
encamped around them in Palestine is sheer nonsense.
III. IMPORTANT PERSONS AND SYMBOLS OF THE CHAPTER
In this section, we merely list and define the persons and symbols used in the chapter.
(1) The Angel. While scholars differ, it seems best to say this is Jesus.
(2) Key and chain. The key is a symbol of power to open and close hell. The chain is
the symbol of power to render one helpless.1
(3) Abyss This is a symbol of imprisonment; enforced inactivity.
(4) Satan. An evil spirit being, ruler of all other evil spirits, fallen angels; called the
serpent, dragon, and devil.
(5) Binding of Satan. Rendering Satan incapable of doing the work he wishes to do.
(6) One thousand years. This is the period from Pentecost to the second coming of
Jesus; an indefinitely long period in contrast with the “little time” (v.3).
(7) Shut and sealed. This indicates the degree of power Jesus has over Satan.
(8) Deceive the nations. Nations is used in the sense of people.
(9) Loosing of Satan. This is the opposite of binding, so restoration of privileges.
(10) Thrones. These are symbols of power to rule. Sitting on thrones means the
exercise of the power given to those who are on the thrones.
(11) Judgment. This is used in the sense of making decisions, rendering verdicts.
(12) Souls of beheaded. These are the departed souls, Spirits, of people; their bodies
are still in the grave.
(13) Lived and reigned. Though their bodies were killed, the souls still lived; they had
come into possession of eternal life. They reigned in the sense of sharing with Jesus his reign
over his kingdom.
(14) Rest of the dead. We take this to mean the unbelieving portion of humanity.
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(15) Second death. Total banishment from God’s presence in the lake Of fire.
(16) Gog and Magog. “Both names are taken from Ezekiel 38 and 39; Gog is the
prince and leader, Magog his land and his people.”2 These are used to represent all
unbelievers who are deceived and led by Satan.
(17) Camp of saints, beloved city. This means the church, the people of God.
(18) Great white throne. This is the throne of the last judgement where God through
Christ judges all men of all time and rewards all accord are finished. The words “after this”
(V. 3) are the translation of “meta tauta” in Greek and are used in several places in Revelation.
In Rev. 1:19 John is told to write the things which are, and which shall “come to pass
hereafter.” The literal translation is “things which are about to occur after these things” and
the same Greek words which we have in our text are used. Next, in Rev. 15:1, John describes
one vision; then in verse 5 he says, “And after these things I saw.” Next, in Rev. 18:1 and
19:1 we have the same words used to denote that which follows a previous scene. So we
conclude that the loosing of Satan for a little time is to follow the binding of Satan for a
thousand years.
The purpose of binding Satan is said to be “that he should deceive the nations no
more.” Satan is called the deceiver. He deceived Eve in the garden because he was not at that
time bound. He was not bound when he put Job under trials. With God’s word revealed,
confirmed and recorded there is no need for anyone to be deceived by Satan today. Only
those who receive not the love of the truth and those who take pleasure in unrighteousness
and are willing to be deceived are hurt by Satan (II Thess. 2:8-12). During the thousand years,
he is bound so that he cannot deceive. When he is loosed, we will expect him to begin his
work of deception again. And this is just what we are told in verses 7 and 8 of this chapter.
So we believe the two periods of time cannot run concurrently.
(2) First Heavenly Scene 4 6. John says he saw thrones and souls reigning with Christ,
so we conclude that he saw souls sitting on these thrones. This simply means that these souls
were in places of power, rendering decisions, verdicts. At one time, they were ruled by
ungodly powers; they were persecuted for Christ’s sake, but now they are exalted; they are
victorious. This is said to give the church on earth hope and courage to undergo the trials
which they are enduring and to be faithful to the Lord in spite of their sufferings.
Who are these souls? First, they are the souls of people who have been beheaded.
These were the souls from bodies which had been beheaded with an axe. The Greek word
used here means to cut off with an axe.5 John did not see people, nor saints whose bodies
had been raised; he saw souls from bodies which had been beheaded. There is nothing said
of resurrected bodies in this scene. Next, John saw souls of “such as worshipped not the
beast.” Some scholars say this is solely a martyr scene, no one included but those who lost
their lives in the service of the Lord. But why should those whose heads were cut off be
exalted above people who were burned at the stake, or those who were eaten by wild beasts
for the entertainment of the R0mans? These latter suffered more than the former, and for the
same purpose. Then there were those whose property was confiscated because they refused
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to burn incense as worship to Caesar. ln Rev. 3:21 we learn that all the overcomers are
promised the right to sit down with Jesus in his throne as he sat down with his Father in his
throne. In Rev. 2:26 Jesus says to the overcomer, “To him will I give authority over the
nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.” This indicates that all overcomers will sit
on thrones of authority. And in Rev. 2:11 we are told that the overcomers shall not be hurt of
the second death. In our text, we are told that the souls John saw on thrones had part in the
first resurrection and “over these the second death hath no power.” So, we conclude that John
saw the souls of all Christians who had been faithful unto and until death of the body.
Next, John tells us these souls “lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ” The
doctrine of premillennialism says this living and reigning will take place here on earth after
Jesus comes back to earth. But nothing is said. about the coming of Jesus and nothing is said
about these souls being on earth. Hendriksen gives a long treatment of this under three heads
which we summarize here.6 First, where does this take place? (a) Where the thrones are,
around the throne of Christ which is in heaven. (b) Where disembodied souls live with Christ.
(c) Where Jesus lives and reigns at the right hand of God, which is in heaven. Second, what
is the character of this reign? (a) It is judging. (b) It is living with Christ. (0) It is sharing
royal glory with Christ. (d) It is the first resurrection, the translation of the soul from earth to
heaven; it is being absent from the body to be with Christ (11 Cor. 5:7, 8). Third, who is to
participate in this reign? (a) All the souls of the martyrs. (b) The souls of all who worshipped
not the beast, etc.
John said these souls lived and reigned with Christ. First, the souls did the reigning.
This is not said primarily of Christ, so there is no proof here for the premillennial doctrine of
the reign of Christ on earth. Next, it is said they lived and reigned for a thousand years. If the
reigning ceased at the end of the thousand years, would not that prove that the living ended
at the same time? Next, they lived; they enjoyed that life which is life indeed. Jesus promised
the believer that he should never die (John 11:26). This life, eternal life, is in the Son, and he
that hath the Son hath the life (I John 5:11, 12). These souls had been delivered from, raised
up out of, that body which is mortal and corruptible into a state of life with the ever-living
Christ. This is the first resurrection. Some among us think the first resurrection occurs in
conversion, when we are made alive with Christ and raised up to sit with him in heavenly
places (Eph. 2:5, 6). But the life in Christ here on earth is not the living with Christ of our
chapter, so we believe it is not the first resurrection. Another View of this first resurrection
is that, “The visional procedure of taking the souls of the martyrs out from under the altar in
chapter 6, and elevating them to thrones in chapter 20, was symbolized as a resurrection . . .
It was the resurrection of the cause for which they died.”7 It seems that this view robs the
soul for a time of the joy and honor of reigning with Christ. We believe that the first
resurrection occurs when the soul leaves the body to go to live and reign with Christ; and that
the second resurrection (if the first implies a second) occurs when the body is raised from the
grave, a glorified spiritual body fit to house the soul in eternity.
The rest of the dead lived not. Who are these? Again, there is a limited View which
says these are the persecutors of the souls who live and reign with Christ. We believe this is
too limited. If those souls who live and reign with Christ are all the believers and overcomers,
it follows that “the rest of the dead” who lived not are the unbelievers, the children and
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servants of the devil. When they die, their souls do not go to be with Christ; they do not enjoy
that life which is life indeed; nor do they live and reign with Christ during the thousand years.
Verse 6 tells us that those who have part in the first resurrection are blessed and holy.
They are blessed in that they “rest from their labors” (Rev. 14:13) and are now living and
reigning with Christ. They are holy because during life they perfected that holiness in the
fear of God (11 Cor. 7: 1) without which no man can see God (Heb. 12:14). They are blessed
also because they are never to experience the second death. They are the overcomers who
cannot be hurt of the second death (Rev. 2:11). Also, these souls “shall be priests of God and
of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” As priests, they offer up sacrifices of
praise and adoration, such as, “Unto him that sitteth on the throne, and unto the Lamb, be the
blessing, and the honor, and the glory, and the dominion, for ever and ever” (Rev. 5:13). As
reigning ones, these souls are kings; they are a royal priesthood. Why is it said that they reign
for a thousand years? Because this living and reigning with Christ is limited to this church
age. But when their bodies are raised and they are clothed in their house which is from
heaven, they will be in a different situation in which they will reign for ever and ever (Rev.
22:5).
(3) Second Earthly Scene -7 - 10.
Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. When? John tells us Satan shall be loosed
when the thousand years are finished. This word “finished” is the translation of the Greek
word telesthe, from teleo, which means in passive voice “passed, finished.” The same word
is used when Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30). Paul used the same word when he said,
“I have finished my course” (11 Tim. 4:7). Though the thousand years cannot be taken
literally, we see no reason to take this word as a figure of speech. When the thousand years,
which we have said is the Christian age, is passed, expired, finished, then Satan will be loosed
from his prison, the abyss. Loosing Satan will be the Opposite of binding him. Binding him
was depriving him of the power and privilege of deceiving the nations; losing him will be
granting him the power and privilege of deceiving the nations again. And the next verse tells
us that he “shall come forth to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth.”
He is bound at the beginning of the thousand years and he is loosed at the end of them.
The expression “Gog and Magog “is used to include all the nations which are deceived by
Satan. They are the nations from the four corners of the earth meaning all the nations of the
earth. This is not to be taken literally. This is no prediction of a carnal conflict in which
planes, bombs, and deadly gas are used. This is a battle, not a prolonged war. “It is simply
the last attack of the forces of antichrist against the church . . . It is the final attack of
antichristian forces upon the church.”8 This is not a conflict in which the forces of
righteousness succeed in overcoming the devil and exterminating him; it is the fire out of
heaven that devours these enemies of the Lord and his people. Of course, this fire is not to
be taken literally; it is a symbol of quick, sure and complete final destruction of God’s
enemies. This is said to be in the end of the thousand years; it is the “little time” of verse 3.
The whole context indicates the suddenness of this transaction, but we are not told how the
Lord will accomplish this work.
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The outcome of the battle is determined, and this is said to give the Lord’s people
hope and courage to endure whatever sufferings may be brought upon them by the forces of
Satan. The devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Again, we are asked, Is this
literal fire and Sulphur?
In this book so filled with symbols and figures of speech we are inclined to doubt that
it is to be taken literally. Literal Sulphur is consumed by fire and needs replenishing. We
doubt not that God could punish Satan in this manner, but we doubt that such will be in a
spirit world. This is a figure of Speech to tell us that the punishment will be extreme and such
as is deserved by the arch enemy of God and his people.
The beast and the false prophet are cast into the same lake of fire and brimstone. “The
beast is Satan’s persecuting power, and the false prophet is Satan’s antichristian religion.”9
These are forces which Satan uses against the Lord’s church during the period from Pentecost
to the second coming of Jesus. The torment of Satan is said to be without end. for ever and
ever; unto the ages of the ages. The punishment of wicked people is said to be eternal (Matt.
25 :46), in fire unquenchable (Mark 9:44). They share the fate of their spiritual father in the
lake of fire and brimstone.
(4) Second Heavenly Scene 11 - 15.
First, John says he saw a great white throne. White is the symbol of holiness, purity.
The throne is not an ordinary one; it is a great throne. He does not say who sits on that throne,
but from other scriptures we know it is Jesus Christ. In Matt. 25:31 Jesus sits on the throne
of his glory; all nations appear before him and he separates them as the shepherd separates
the sheep from the goats. In 11 Cor. 5:10 all are to appear before the judgment-seat of Christ.
In Acts 17:31 we are told that God will judge the world by the man whom he has ordained
and gives proof in that he raised him from the dead. And Paul says Christ Jesus shall judge
the living and the dead (11 Tim. 4:1). So, awesome was the scene that the earth and the
heaven fled away. Peter says that in the day of the Lord, the day the Lord comes, “The
heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent
heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up”(11 Pet. 3:10). By some
it is said that “burned Up” means a renovation of the earth. But since the word occurs but
once, it follows that what it means with reference to the earth it must mean with reference to
the “works that are therein.” The works referred to are the works of wicked people and the
devil. Are they to be renovated and made useable for all eternity? The saved will dwell in “a
new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away” (Rev.
21 :1). It is called a new heaven and a new earth because it will be the dwelling place of both
God and man.
Next, John says he saw “the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne.”
In this chapter, the dead are mentioned three times. In verse 4 we see the souls on thrones,
those who died for the Lord; in verse 5 the rest of the dead who are not allowed to live and
reign with Christ; and now in verse 12 both these groups are seen before the throne of Christ
to be separated from each other. the wicked to go into eternal punishment and the righteous
to go into eternal life (Matt. 25:46). Since both the righteous and the wicked are to be in this
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judgment scene, it follows that they are all to be resurrected at the end of the thousand years
mentioned in the chapter. This agrees with what Jesus said about the resurrection. “The hour
cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that
have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28, 29). And Paul sail there is to be “a resurrection both
of the just and unjust” (Acts 24:15). There are not to be two bodily resurrections, one for the
just and another one thousand years later for the unjust. Some among us think this judgment
took place in the first century and that there will never be a judgment in which all people who
have ever lived will stand before God in judgment. Jesus said that when he comes again all
nations will be gathered before him (Matt. 25:32). Jesus names several nations who will be
in judgment together “in the day of judgment.” Sodom is mentioned as being in the same
judgment with the people to whom Jesus talked (Matt. 11:24). The people of Tyre and Sidon
will also be with the generation to whom Jesus talked (Matt. 11:22). The queen of the south
in Solomon’s day, and the people of Nineveh in Jonah’s day will be in judgment with the
people to whom Jesus talked (Matt. 12:41, 42). Here we have five different generations of
people in five different nations separated by hundreds of years who are going to be in the
same judgment “in the day of judgment.” Then Paul said that the Christians of Thessalonica
and their persecutors will be in judgment together when Jesus comes from heaven with his
angels to be glorified in his saints (ll Thess. 126-10). This makes six nations scattered over
two thousand years of time who are going to be in the same judgment. Both the wicked and
the righteous are going to be there in the same judgment, “in the day of judgment.” This
being true, how can anyone say that “all nations” does not mean all people of all time? Again,
this will necessitate the resurrection of both good and evil before, or on, this day of judgment.
And since this day of judgment is the day Jesus comes again, it follows that both the wicked
and the righteous will be raised from the dead before judgment takes place.
However, there are those who say the destiny of people is determined at the time of
death, so there is no need for such a judgment. This idea reveals a lack of knowledge as to
the reason for this general judgment. It is not to determine whether one is saved or lost. It is
true that this is determined at the time of death. The purpose of this judgment is to pronounce
rewards and punishment. The righteousness will hear this: “Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you” (Matt. 25:34). The wicked will be told, “Depart from
me, ye cursed, into the eternal tire prepared for the devil and his angels.” This “eternal fire
prepared for the devil” is the lake of fire and brimstone into which the devil was cast,
according to Rev. 20:10. So Jesus and John are talking about the same judgment of all nations
“in the day of judgment.”
Next, John saw books opened and the dead were judged out of the things which were
written in those books. It is possible that the books represent covenants and each man will be
judged by the covenant, law, under which he lived. It would be unfair for a Gentile who lived
under the Patriarchal law to be judged by the law of Moses, or the law of Christ. And it would
be unfair for a Jew who lived under the law of Moses to be judged by the gospel of Christ.
Each man must be judged by the law under which he lived. However, there are some who
say these books contain the record of each person’s life. The opening of the book of a man’s
life is simply the revealing of his whole life and judging him accordingly. Both views are
taught in scripture.
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Then John saw the book of life opened. This is the book in which are recorded the
names of the saved, the elect. And we are told that these names were “written from the
foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain” (Rev. 13:8;
17:8). We should not be surprised at this, for God “chose us in him before the foundation of
the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love” (Eph. 1:4). This
is not to suggest the Calvinistic idea of election, foreordination and impossibility of apostasy,
but the foreknowledge of God who knew the end from the beginning (Isa. 46:10).
And the dead, all dead whether good or wicked, were judged according to their works.
Paul says all will stand before the judgment-seat of Christ “that each one may receive the
things done in the body, according to what he hath done, whether it be good or bad” (11 Cor.
5:10). Again, “we shall all stand before the judgment-seat of God . . . So, then each one of us
shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:10, 12). The elect will stand there without
one mark against them, for their sins have been forgiven, washed away in the precious blood
of Jesus (I John 1:9; Rev. 1:5). But the wicked who have not the benefit of the blood of Jesus
will face every evil thought, word and deed with no one to plead their cause.
Next, we are told that the sea, death and Hades give up the dead in them. The meaning
of the word “sea” is difficult to determine. Plummet says it may suggest the universal nature
of the resurrection; or it may be a figure of speech to mean those who are spiritually dead but
living in the flesh at the time of the judgment.10 Since the dead “great and small” of verse
12 were judged “according to their works,” and those given up by the sea, death and Hades
were judged according to their works, we take the two statements to be referring to the same
people, all humanity.
Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. Death is called the last enemy (I Cor.
15:26). Hades is the unseen abode of the dead. 90 when these two are cast into the lake of
fire, the last enemies of the people of God have
been destroyed.
This is the second death, even the lake of fire. According to verse 10 this is the place
where the devil, the beast and the false prophet were placed, and where they are to be
tormented for ever and ever. Death and Hades are personified here as enemies of God’s
people and the conclusion is that all of their enemies have been destroyed and there is nothing
left for them to fear. Since this is the “second” death, we look for the first death. This is
certainly the death of the body. The first death is for only a time; the second death is for
eternity. All humanity suffers the first death, except those living at the time Jesus comes (1
Cor. 15:51, 52); but this second death cannot touch those who have part in the first
resurrection, the elect, the people of God.
All whose names are not found written in the book of life of the Lamb are cast into
the lake of fire. They suffer the same punishment as their spiritual father, the devil, suffers.
This lake was prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41). This is not a popular
doctrine in our day. Only the goodness and love of God are emphasized; the severity of God
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is denied. But if we cannot believe what the Bible says about the severity of God, we have
no basis for our belief of the love and goodness of God.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, we reject the doctrine of Premillennialism because we have not found

it taught in this chapter, and if it is not taught here it cannot be found in the Bible. We reject
the doctrine because the righteous are to be raised from the dead the last day (John 6:40); the
wicked dead are to be raised the same hour, therefore the same day (John 5:29); the dead,
great and small, all humanity, are to be in the same judgment on the day of judgment; the
righteous are to go away into eternal life and the wicked, and people who know not God, are
to go away from that judgment into eternal punishment in the lake of fire and brimstone and
be tormented with the devil whom they served.
“Premillennialism True or False?” Roy H. Lanier Sr.: Revelation 20 – Analysis and Exegesis.
Pages 229-239.
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REVELATION 20 AND THE MILLENIUM
(Harold Hazelip)
Whenever the complexities of history become intense and man’s frustration with life
on earth rises to a high level, speculation about the end breaks out. Good people begin to
invest enormous energy in charts, in conferences on prophecy, and in specific predictions of
the immediate end of history. Today is such an era. Popularized versions of ancient millennial
theories are now being widely circulated.
Schemes of foretelling the future from the Old Testament prophets are often exciting,
but often errant.
Hal Lindsey’s The Late Great Planet Earth, published in 1970, soared above the five
million mark by the end of 1973. He added in 1973 a commentary on Revelation entitled
There’s a New World Coming. Other best sellers include Re-Entry by Billy Graham associate
John Wesley White (Zondervan, over a million in print), Tim LaHaye’s The Beginning of
the End, Thomas S. McCall and Zola Levitt’s Satan in the Sanctuary, and Salem Kirban’s
Guide To Survival and I Predict.
An array of films parallels the surge of books: His Land (Billy Graham), The Return,
The Rapture, A Thief in the Night, The Temple, and The Road to Armageddon. Widely
available cassette recordings of prophetic messages round out the multimedia picture, which
is contributing to the current “Rapture Fever.”
While there is an older type of premilliennialism which looked forward to a thousand-
year reign of Christ but did not include special blessings for national Israel, Lindsey and the
other writers mentioned here represent 19th century Dispensationalism. John Nelson Darby,
(1800-1882) founder of the Plymouth brethren, initiated the Dispensational interpretation of
the Bible, and C. l. Scotield popularized it in his special edition of the Bible with footnotes.
These authors divided human history into seven dispensations. The Age of Innocency,
Conscience, Human Government, Promise, Law, Grace, and Kingdom. They believed we are
now in the sixth dispensation; they held that the church was not prophesied in the Old
Testament but is a parenthesis in history due to the rejection of Christ by the Jews and that
the kingdom will be inaugurated with His second coming.
Lindsey believes we are in the general time of Christ’s second coming. His three
special signs are the reestablishment 0f the nation of Israel in Palestine (which he dates May
14, 1948), the repossession of Old Jerusalem by the Jews (1967), and the rebuilding of the
Jewish temple in Jerusalem (yet to be done). His The Late Great Planet Earth goes so far as
to suggest 1988 as an outside limit for the rapture, and many other writers seem convinced
that Christ will come within our generation. Lindsey has popularized the Darby-Scoheld
Scheme, adding the spice of pinpointing current events which indicate the fruition of that
scheme.
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Lindsey’s procedure begins with the reestablishment of Israel as the key to an
understanding of unfulfilled prophecy (Isa. 1 1:1-6; Jer. 23:5-8; Ezek. 37:21-28). Since Israel
has been reestablished and Old Jerusalem has been conquered by the Jews, we may look for
the “soon rapture” of the church. A seven-year rapture of the church with a simultaneous
great tribulation on earth will kick off the last seven years of God’s prophetic “time-clock.”
The “rapture" idea is drawn from 1 Thessalonians 4: 14-18, the seven years from the
seventieth week of Daniel's prophecy (Dan. 9:24-27).
The seven-year period will begin with a Roman dictator, the Anti-Christ, making a
religio-political covenant with the Jews in Jerusalem. This Antichrist heads a revived Roman
Empire, which Lindsey believes will be formed from the European Common Market nations,
and the United States is to be an ally of this empire. The covenant Anti-Christ makes will
offer the Jews protection and freedom to maintain temple worship in return for their
allegiance to him. During the first half of the seven-year period, the world will be captivated
by Anti-Christ’s ability to keep peace. But at the end of three and one-half years, Anti-Christ
will go to Jerusalem. enter the temple, and proclaim himself to be “God. ” This will break
the covenant he has made with the Jews and will be the signal for Jews to flee to the
mountains and rocks for protection.
As war unfolds, invasions will center on Palestine. A southern confederation of Arab-
African nations, headed by Egypt, will launch an invasion of Israel. Dispensationalists draw
this from Daniel’s discussion of the King of the South and the King of the North (Dan.
ll:40f.). Russia, who is identified as the King of the North, will be attracted by the possibility
of an easy conquest of mineral-rich Israel and will overwhelm the southern confederation
and establish headquarters on Mt. Moriah. Anti-Christ, unhappy with the disruption of world
peace, will march on and demolish the Russian army (cf. Ezek. 3923-5). Only two great
spheres of power will be left on earth: The revived Roman Empire, representing western
civilization under the Roman dictator, and the Red Chinese, who will bring 200 million
soldiers across the dried-up Euphrates River for the Battle of Armageddon. Total annihilation
of the human race will be averted only by the second coming and the millennial reign of
Christ.
This complex theory draws upon many Old Testament prophecies without regard to
their initial point or the fact that they have already been fulfilled, and those who are anxious
about the future and uninformed in Biblical studies are often easily convinced. Revelation 20
is the locus classicus of the millennial controversy and is perhaps the most disputed text in
the Bible. John Calvin declined to write on the Book of Revelation. He has a priceless, though
naive, comment in his lecture on Daniel 7:25: “Interpreters differ widely about these words,
and I will not bring forward all their opinions; otherwise it would be necessary to refute them.
I should have no little trouble in refuting all their views, but I will follow my own custom of
shortly expressing the genuine sense of the Prophet, and thus all difficulty will be removed.”
Surely we can do as well with Revelation 20.
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Where Does One Begin?
A careful interpretation of a book of twenty-two chapters does not begin three
chapters from the end. If we want to understand Revelation 20, we must begin at the
beginning. The opening verse of Revelation says that God “signified” what must “shortly
come to pass” by his angel to his servant John (KJV). The Greek word translated “signified”
means “showed by signs.” Revelation is a series of symbolic messages given to John by the
Holy Spirit to assure Christians under persecution in the last decade of the first century that
Christ would ultimately be victorious. The church must keep itself pure, and through Christ
she will triumph over her enemies.
The specific problem in John‘s day was enforced emperor worship. The Christian,
convinced that Christ is Lord, would not say, even to secure his life, “Caesar is Lord.”
However, Revelation is not limited to the first-century setting. If we insert the greatest enemy
of Christ in any age in the place of emperor worship, Revelation is our assurance of the
eventual doom of the enemy and the triumph of Christ.
The proper approach to Revelation is to ask, “What did the book mean to those
originally addressed?" Revelation, like sections of Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Joel, is
apocalyptic literature. The Greek word apokalupté means to uncover or reveal. This type of
literature was written during persecution: and, while its symbols were highly revealing to the
initiated, they were baffling to the outsider. ln apocalyptic literature the whole universe is
drawn into the struggle. Not just individuals or mankind as a whole, but the entire creation,
including stars, planets, winds, waves, rocks, flowers and animals, are involved. A wild beast
is an empire, a star is an angel, and men are often animals. Symbols are code words,
comparable to the skull and crossbones on a medicine bottle. These do not constitute a picture
of poison but a symbol of poison. From the seven golden candlesticks to the great red dragon,
Revelation is filled with symbols.
Numbers mixed with mystery are very important ingredients in apocalyptic literature
also. One suggests unity, two stands for compansionship or strength, and three represents
divinity. Four is a cosmic number, suggesting the four corners of the earth, or the entire
world. The combination of three (divinity) and four (the whole world) equals seven (used 54
times in Revelation), and seven suggests completeness or perfection. Six falls short of seven
and denotes evil (cf. our use of “thirteen”). Three and one-half suggests imperfection or
incompleteness, the opposite of seven. Twelve is a multiple of the cosmic and divinity
numbers. Ten suggests human completeness, drawn from the decimal system or the fingers
and toes of man. Many of Revelation’s numbers are multiples of ten, as is one thousand.
Most interpreters agree that the book of Revelation utilizes symbols. But do those
symbols apply to what was future in John’s day only, or to what is future in our day? There
are four basic responses to this question. The Preterist (past) view is that Revelation was a
tract for the first century and has no primary future application. The Futurist view is that
Revelation is a chart of the end, and when the present church period ends (chapters 1-3), the
body of Revelation (chapters 4-19) will be fulfilled during the seven-year period of Rapture/
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Tribulation. The Continuous-Historical school sees a summary of church history from the
first century to the end of the world in Revelation, though it is difficult to see how such a
summary would have comforted Christians under persecution in the AD. 90’s. The Symbolic
view sees great principles of conflict between good and evil, with the ultimate victory of
good, and with the primary message of the book intended for those who originally received
it. Visions are taken as a whole without pressing the details of the symbolism. The
interpretation which follows will have more in common with the fourth of these
interpretations, the Symbolic.
Introducing Chapter 20
Someone has suggested that two verses provide the key to the primary message of
Revelation: 2:10 and 20: 10. In the former we meet the devil, whose works are to be seen
throughout Revelation, and in the latter, he is cast forever into the lake of fire and brimstone.
From 12:1 to 20: 10, Revelation outlines a great battle and its outcome. The
combatants on one side are a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns (12:1-l7), a sea
beast with ten horns and seven heads (13:1-10, l7-18), and an earth beast with two horns
(13:10-16). On the other side are a radiant woman (12:1-6,13-16), a man-child who is born
of this woman (122-5), and other offspring of the woman (12:17). A rider on a white horse
joins the battle against the dragon and his helpers (19:11-16).
A climactic battle is fought in chapter 19, culminating in the sea beast and earth beast
(here called the false prophet) being defeated and cast into the lake of fire. The dragon
remains. He is bound, then loosed for a final foray, and is finally thrown into the lake of fire
(20:10). Judgment follows; all who are not the Lamb’s are consigned to the lake of fire, while
the Lamb’s people enjoy “a new heaven and a new earth" (21:1f).
What do these symbols mean? Their identification will provide helpful clues to the
interpretation of chapter 20. The dragon is Satan (12:9). The sea beast appears to be a political
power who receives worship from men, probably Domitian, the emperor who was enforcing
worship of himself at the time.
The earth beast has the characteristics of a religious power who assists the political
power, probably the native council of Asia Minor, the provincial government which enforced
worship of the emperor. The emperor would have been powerless to enforce devotion to
himself across the empire without the assistance of such committees.
The radiant woman I understand to be the people of God. The man-child is Christ; the
dragon tries to devour him but he is caught up to God and his throne, because he is to rule all
nations with a rod of iron (12:5). The other children of the woman are “those who keep the
commandments of God and bear their testimony to Jesus,” or Christians (12:7). The rider on
the white horse is Christ in a different scene, here called Faithful and True, the Word of God,
and King of Kings and Lord of Lords (19:11-16).
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Binding Satan (20:1-3)
The division between chapters 19 and 20 is not helpful in their interpretation. The
beast and the false prophet were destroyed at the close of chapter 19 and the new paragraph
opens with an angel descending from heaven with a key and a great chain to bind Satan. This
language is not to be taken literally; one does not bind a spiritual being with a physical chain.
When you attend the theatre, the stage props and scenery may be quite exciting, but, if you
concentrate too much upon them, you may miss the plot. The plot of the opening paragraph
of Revelation 20 is the binding of Satan for one thousand years and a basis for a final effort
by him. There can be no absolute victory over evil until he is destroyed; consequently, the
principal thrust of chapter 20 is his defeat.
The purpose of his binding is to prevent him from deceiving the nations. All of
Christ‘s work has the effect of binding Satan (cf. Mark 3:27), but Satan’s specific deceptive
work in Revelation is causing people to believe the emperor is to be worshipped instead of
Christ. This was to be restrained!
The 1000 years appears nowhere in the 66 books, 1189 chapters, 31,173 verses of the
Bible except for 6 occurrences in 6 consecutive verses of Revelation 2022-7. It is not good
exegesis to build an entire system of eschatology, a philosophy of history, on such a highly
symbolic passage, particularly when that interpretation conflicts with other plain passages of
scripture. Augustine interpreted the 1000 years to mean the whole Christian era from the
cross to the second coming.
Since the numbers are symbols of ideas in Revelation, I believe the 1000 should be
taken as the ultimate symbol of perfection. Ten is the number for human completeness, and
1000 = 10 x 10 x 10. If this is correct, the 1000 years refers to the thoroughness of the restraint
imposed upon Satan rather than to a literal period of history (cf. 2 Peter 3:8; PS. 50:10). One
cannot reasonably accept the key and chain as symbols and insist that the 1000 years be
nonsymbolic.
Enthroned Martyrs (20:4-6)
No passage of the Bible as occasioned more controversy than this paragraph. I believe
its interpretation lies in a comparison with an earlier paragraph of the book: Revelation 6:9-
11. There the souls of those who had been slain for adhering to God’s word were under the
altar crying for judgment. Here the souls of those who had been executed are empowered
with Christ for 1000 years. God’s inevitable judgment has come. What did fearful Christians
who received Revelation see in this paragraph? The triumph of martyrs, not on earth, but in
the spirit world. Their reign is the positive aspect of the binding of Satan. God’s people had
appeared to be defeated, but now they are victorious.
The first resurrection of the passage is not the new birth, but is set in contrast with the
second death. The “second resurrection” is not mentioned nor is a “first death." The first
death, which is only implied, would be physical death, while the second death is eternal
punishment. The second resurrection is the general resurrection of the dead while the first
412
resurrection is the triumph of martyrs. The point of this paragraph is not that the righteous
are raised a thousand and seven years before the wicked, for a physical reign on earth, but
that the cause for which the martyrs have died is now triumphant. Evil is not forever on the
throne; God has overcome.
Final Battle (20:7-10)
Although Satan’s power has been limited, it must finally be taken from him. He has
been bound, but now he is unchained and begins to muster the evil forces for an uprising
against the camp of God’s people. Gog and Magog, Old Testament descriptions from Ezekiel
38-39, personify the enemies of the cause of Christ. As the devil rallies them against the
saints, God destroys them with fire from heaven. Satan is then flung into the lake of fire,
from which there is no release.
General Resurrection, Final Judgment (20:11-15)
The last enemy has been overcome. Earthly action closes and the age of glory begins. The
eternal dwelling place of the Lamb’s people will be described as God says, “Behold, I make
all things new" (21:5).
But first God will have his last reckoning with men. The judgment in the closing
paragraph of Revelation 20 is universal; the “great and small" are there, the dead from earth
and sea. This agrees with the pictures of the universal judgment in Matthew 25:31-46,
Romans 14:10 and 2 Corinthians 5:10. The time of the end is not hinted, but the scene is
compelling.
God is the judge. The basis of judgment is the record in the book of what men had
done. Only condemnation could result from this, because human merit is never sufficient.
But the book of life is also opened and this contains the names of those who belong to the
Lamb. Others are cast into the lake of fire, but those who are in the Book of Life enter into
the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:1; 22:5). Everything man lost in Eden is now restored in what
Milton called “Paradise Regained.”
A highly controversial chapter appears to have a simple thrust. There will be alternate
triumphs of good and evil, but Christ will ultimately overcome. This was the message needed
by Christians facing death in the first century.
of Last Things.” Harold Hazelip: Revelation 20 and the Millennium. Pages 56-62.
413
Error
ERROR
414
THE MILLENNIUM – A LOOK AT REVELATION 20
(Doug Eaton)
Revelation 20 is one of the most debated passages in Scripture. When reading

commentaries on this passage, it seems that there are about as many interpretations as there
are writers. What causes this to be such a unique passage of Scripture is that according to
Eerdmans’ Handbook on the Bible, this is the Scripture “which contains the Bible’s only
mention of a millennium” (Alexander, 656). The questions which most are trying to answer
are, what is the millennium? How long is it? Are the 1000 years symbolic or literal? Where
does it take place? And, is it spiritual or physical? All of these questions are what makes this
passage so unique. The focus of this paper will be first, to give a basic understanding of the
three most common understandings of the millennium, second to follow some basic
hermeneutical principles and exegete the Scripture to get a general understanding of what the
author originally meant, and third, to give arguments for and against each view.
I. General Understandings of the Millennium
The three most common understandings of the millennium may sound a little different
depending on who you talk with, but can be broken down into three different categories;
premillennialism, postmillennialism or amillennialism.
Today, it seems the most predominant view is premillennialism. This view holds to
the idea that Christ’s second coming will precede the millennium. According to Henry
Virkler in his book Hermeneutics, premillennialists believe that “He (Christ) will descend to
earth and set up a literal 1000-year earthly kingdom with its headquarters in Jerusalem”
(Virkler, 201). It is important to understand that not all premillennialists agree on all the
details. There are two major camps of premillennialists: traditional premillennialists and
dispensational premillennialists. When it comes to the actual details of the millennium there
will be a lot of disagreement on its nature and purpose, but to be a premillennialist a person
must believe that Christ’s second coming will take place before the millennium (pre-
millennium).
Postmillennialism, according to Virkler, “is the view that through evangelism, the
world eventually will be reached for Christ. There will be a period in which the world will
experience joy and peace because of its obedience to God. Christ will return to earth at the
end of the millennium” (post-millennium) (201). It must be clarified that postmillennialists
do not believe that everyone will be a Christian during this time, but that society as a whole
will be Christian.
Amillennialism, according to Virkler, “is conceptually a form of postmillennialism.

The millennium, in this theory, is symbolic and refers to the time between Christ’s first and
second coming. During this time Christ rules symbolically in men’s hearts. Christ’s second
coming will mark the end of the period.” Amillennialists believe that Christ will never have
an earthly rule (a- or no-millennium)” (201).
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The terms postmillennial and amillennial are sometimes interchangeable depending
on who is defining the them, since both of them believe Christ will return after (post) some
kind of millennium. This paper will use the definitions provided by Virkler. The major
difference between the two is that postmillennialists believe that Christianity will spread
across the globe and usher in a time of peace. Amillennialists do not believe that Christianity
will usher in this time of peace universally, except in the hearts of men. In the history of the
Church, variant forms of these two positions have been the dominant view. Charles Hodge
in his Systematic Theology explains the most basic understanding of postmillennialism: “The
common doctrine of the Church stated above, is that the conversion of the world, the
restoration of the Jews, and the destruction of Antichrist are to precede the second coming of
Christ, which event will be attended by the general resurrection of the dead, the final
judgment, the end of the world, and the consummation of the Church” (Hodge, 861). This
was the view of many of the reformers and the puritans and some suggest that even though
the terms were not used, the bare bones of this doctrine shows through in Augustine’s famous
work City of God. Postmillennialism seems to carry the worst stigmatism because of the fact
that the liberals had hijacked this doctrine early in the twentieth century and turned it into a
naturalistic and modernist’s doctrine. For a while, if you were a postmillennialist then you
were considered to be on your way to becoming a liberal—if you were not already. Though
this was an actual concern, it was based on a misrepresentation of what postmillennialist’s
actually believe. In fact, the puritans were postmillennial, but not commonly considered
liberal. Consequently, postmillennialism cannot automatically be linked with liberalism.
Premillennialism, being the less commonly held view, began to gain momentum
about 300 years ago. This was around the time that dispensationalism came onto the scene,
but it did not find its origins at this time. In fact, Charles Hodge states, “In opposition to this
view (postmillennialism) the doctrine of a premillennial advent of Christ has been
extensively held from the days of the Apostles to the present time.” Two world wars also led
many people to reconsider the idea that the world was getting better, which helped
premillennialism become the new majority view.
II. General Exegesis of Revelation 20
It is here that we will turn our attention to the actual Biblical text. The goal of finding
the truth of Scripture is to find out what the author originally meant. The way to accomplish
this is to start with historical-cultural and contextual analysis. This analysis means to uncover
some basic information about the text, such as when was it written, who is the author, what
was the situation at the time the author was writing, what was the purpose of the author, and
how would his targeted audience have understood the passages. These questions can
sometimes be harder to answer than they sound, but many of the answers can be found in the
text itself. It is important to always interpret the obscure passages of Scripture with clear and
easy to understand passages.
Most scholars place the writing of Revelation around 90-95 AD. In Revelation 1:4,
the author identifies himself simply as John. According to Robert H. Mounce in his
Commentary on the Book of Revelation, “Early tradition is unanimous in its opinion that the
Apocalypse was written by John the Apostle” (Mounce, 27). Further insight into the historical
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context can be found in Revelation 1:9 which says, “I, John, who also am your brother, and
companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the isle
that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” This verse
lets us know that the audience the author was trying to reach was facing persecution and that
John himself had been exiled to the Isle of Patmos at this time because of his preaching. In
How to Read the Bible for All it’s Worth, Gordon D. Fee writes, “the main themes are
abundantly clear: the church and state are on a collision course; and initial victory will appear
to belong to the state. Thus, he warns the church that suffering and death lie ahead; indeed,
it will get far worse before it gets better (6:9-11)” (Fee, 239). Fee goes on to state that John’s
message is to encourage the church not to capitulate because Christ holds the keys to history
and the future, and that eventually the wrath of God will be revealed against those who
persecute the Church.
After understanding the basic historical situation of the author and the original
audience it is important to understand lexical-syntactical facts about the text. For the book of
Revelation, the most important step is to identify and have a general understanding of the
literary form. The book of Revelation is what is called “apocalyptic literature,” which was
common around this time. In the Old Testament, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, and parts of
Isaiah are examples of apocalyptic literature according to Fee (232). Most scholars place the
majority of apocalyptic literature—much of which is not canonical—between 200 BC and
100 AD (Mounce, 18).
Fee sums up the general purpose of this type of literature:
“Apocalyptic was born either in persecution or in time of great oppression. Therefore,

its great concern was no longer with God’s activity within history. The apocalyptists looked
exclusively forward to the time when God would bring a violent, radical end to history an
end that would mean the triumph of right and final judgement of evil.” (p. 233)
This is the type of literature that is found in Revelation. Typical apocalyptic literature
used many symbols and is presented in the form of fantasy rather than reality (Fee, 233). This
fantasy rather than reality is where much of the trouble in interpreting the book of Revelation
is found. What is to be taken as symbols and what is to be taken literally? The trouble is that
in many of these cases the Scripture itself does not tell us what is symbolic and what is not.
Here is actually where most of the disagreement is found.
A quick read through Revelation reveals a basic outline. The book starts with an
introduction followed by a message to the seven churches of that time, which are actually the
recipients of John’s letter. In Chapters 4 and 5, the book moves into a view of heaven and of
Christ. In Chapter 6-22, we see the drama unfold as Christ, the only one fit to open the seals,
begins to pour his wrath upon the earth and the wickedness found in it. The book closes at
the end of chapter 22 with the angel giving John some basic instructions not to seal up the
book because “blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book” (Rev.22:7).
Whether John was writing about the past, present or the future, further complicates
the interpretation of this book. There are three different understandings regarding this. First,
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according to J. Vernon McGee, we have the preterist view, which holds that everything John
was writing about had already taken place when it was written. It was recent Church history
written in symbols to encourage the Church at that time” (Mcgee, 13). The next view is the
historical interpretation. This is the view, “that the fulfillment of Revelation is going on
continuously in the history of the church from John’s day to the present time” (14). The third
interpretation is called futurist. This is view most commonly held by premillennialists, which
sees the book of Revelation as prophetic. The book is describing what will take place in the
future (14).
Reading through the book of Revelation it will be difficult to fit the entire book into
one of these categories. It seems pretty hard to fit chapters 21 and 22, which deal with the
new earth, into a preterist understanding. It also seems hard to place chapter 12, which seems
to be speaking about Christ’s birth into the futurist view. Understanding whether the
fulfillment of John’s Revelation has already taken place, is taking place currently, or will
take place at the end times is probably one of the most difficult aspects of the book to uncover.
The millennium seems to be found after the second coming, which is written about in
chapter 19, in which Christ returns and the beast is destroyed. Moving into chapter 20, the
chronology seems to flow to the dragon or Satan who controlled the beast. The dragon is then
bound and cast into the bottomless pit. Those who did not take the mark of the beast during
the struggle will be resurrected first and rule with Christ for a thousand years after which will
be the second resurrection of the saints and the final judgment. This is where we find the
“million-dollar question:” what, when, and where is the millennial reign?
III. Arguments for and against the different views of the millennium
Postmillennialists and amilliennialists tend to use many of the same objections against
the premillennial interpretation. The following objections can be found in Charles Hodge’s
Systematic Theology. Hodge lists eight objections, many with subcategories, but due to the
length of this paper only a few will be dealt with briefly. The majority of the objections
against the premillennial view deal with its inconsistency with the rest of Scripture. Post- and
amillennialists tend to hold tightly to the idea that Scripture is its own best interpreter. One
of Hodge’s main objections is that the premillennial theory is inconsistent with Scripture,
because “the Bible teaches that when Christ comes all nations shall appear at his bar for
judgment. This theory teaches that the final judgment will not occur until after the
millennium” (Hodge, 862). Another reason that Hodge believes this position is inconsistent
with Scripture is that “the Scriptures teach when Christ comes the second time without sin
unto salvation, then the Church shall enter on its everlasting state of exaltation and glory.”
The inconsistency is that according to the premillennial position, “instead of heaven awaiting
the risen saints, they are to be introduced into a mere worldly kingdom” (863).
Another objection that postmillennialists make against the premillennialist’s theory

is that “it disparages the Gospel” (864). Since the postmillennialists believe that eventually
the Gospel will spread across the globe and usher in an era of peace, because the “gospel is
the power of God unto salvation,” (Rom. 1:16) and against the church “the gates of hell will
not prevail” (Mat. 16:18). The premillennial view says the gospel will fail to usher in this
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time of peace. To the postmillennialist, this idea seems to weaken the power of the gospel to
change the world.
The premillennial position also has its list of objections to the other positions. The
main objection that is usually brought up is that the other positions do not take Scripture
literally enough. Revelation says that there will be a thousand-year reign which will follow
the second coming. The other positions tend to symbolize too much. Of course, the common
response to this argument is that the other positions do take the Bible literally, and when
symbolism is used, they take what that symbol represents literally. The premillennialists in
this instance see no indication that the millennium is a symbol.
One of the strongest arguments against the amillennial view is that if we are in the
millennium now, then Satan is currently bound. This is where the premillennialists argue that
this position is inconsistent with Scripture, because Satan, according to Scripture “prowls
around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Pet 5:8). This does not appear to
be someone who is bound in a bottomless pit! Not to mention that the passage says he will
be unbound in the last days. If it was Christ’s death that bound him and rules in our hearts,
as the amillenniallists argue, does that mean that the power of Christ’s death will be undone
when he is loosed?
In the book, Hard Sayings of the Bible, Walter Kaiser presents three purposes for the
millennium. Two of which seem the strongest. “First, it demonstrates the victory of Christ,
[and] second, it vindicates the righteous rule of God, redeeming history. Is it possible that
God could not rule this earth any better than human beings” (Kaiser, 779). Dispensationalists
also see it as the fulfillment of the promises made to Israel in the Old Testament, which as
they claim have not yet been fulfilled.
One of the amillennialists strongest arguments against the postmillennialist position

is the parable of the wheat and tares found in Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43. In this parable, Jesus
paints a picture of believers and non-believers growing up in the world together, one in which
they will not be separated until the day of the Lord. They believe this shows us that the church
will not overtake the world, but will grow alongside of the world.
In conclusion, it seems that the way a person interprets the millennium is directly
related to how they see the outline of Revelation. Is it a chronological flow of events as the
dispensational premillennialists suggest it is, or are some of the visions that John sees out of
order and somewhat concurrent as they portray many of the same periods of time in different
ways? For example, David Chilton, in his book The Days of Vengeance, sees chapters 19,
20, and 21 as a series of seven independent visions. Speaking of the binding of Satan, he
states, “The importance of the imagery in this passage is heightened by its centrality as the
fourth of seven visions introduced by the expression ‘and I saw’” (Rev. 19:11, 17,19; 20:4,
11; 21:1) (Chilton, 499). Viewing the breakdown of Revelation this way makes it easier to
see the millennium as not following the second coming.
Understanding apocalyptic literature, it may actually be that John through his writing
of Revelation was not intending to give us a full understanding of how the end times will
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unfold. It seems that its main purpose was to encourage the Church through the persecution
it will face, by realizing that in spite of anything we face, all struggles will eventually be
solved by the coming of Christ. As believers, we should seek to live our lives with Christ as
our perfect example. If the day comes when Christianity becomes the dominant religion of
the world, as the postmillennialists say, then we will enjoy peace ushered in by the gospel. If
that time does not come and there is no real millennium as the amillennialists say, then we
have done our job and fought for what is right and the final judgment will set things straight.
If there is an actual millennium after Christ returns, it will be a time when the saints who are
there will enjoy reigning with Christ. But for us who are not living in that time period, our
job is still to be salt and light, regardless of the fact that the Church will never become
dominant in this world. I say this because it seems that some of the dispensationalists view
the end times as only getting worse, believing that the church should merely huddle in a
corner until it is all over because there is no hope of any significant reformation and revival.
This goes directly against what Scripture has called us to do.
After reading so many sources on this topic, I find myself holding loosely to historical
premillennialism also known as non-dispensational premillennialism. The reason for my
gravitation to this point of view is influenced by many factors, but most importantly by my
understanding of the book of Revelation itself, even though I believe some passages like,
chapter 12 seem to be preterist passages, and many others are historical. It seems that many
of the passages that John writes, especially in chapters 19-22, are prophecies of the future,
because this is how John actually starts the book. He states that the Revelation is of things
“which must shortly take place” (Rev. 1:1). Seeing these passages as eschatological, they
seem to follow a forward moving chronology except for a few interludes. Having both of
these in place leads me to see the millennium as taking place after the second coming. As to
whether the millennium is an actual thousand years, I am not certain.
At this point, I would not rule out the other views. I would be what Herschel Hobbs
in his book Revelation: Three Views, calls a “pre-without a program” (Hobbs, 136). By this
he means someone without a detailed layout of how the end times will unfold. It seems to me
that there are things about the last days that we know with certainty and it is these truths that
bring us hope. The book of Revelation encourages us to hold firm regardless of any
persecution we may face, because Christ is coming to judge. The Apostles Creed tells us,
“[Jesus Christ] ascended into heaven. And sitteth on the right hand of God the Father
Almighty. From thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.” Because of this
certain knowledge there is no further explanation that is really needed. It is with this simple
truth that we can take courage and move forward proclaiming the gospel to all nations.
Source: https://christiantheology.wordpress.com/2007/09/03/the-millennium-a-study-of-
revelation-20/
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THE 1,000 YEARS OF REVELATION 20
(Rev. Angus Stewart)
Revelation 20 is a battleground. It is a battleground for two different reasons. First, it

describes the largest and the most important battle in the history of the world. You could call
it the battle of all battles or the war to end all wars, for with its conclusion the world, with all
its fighting, ends. Second, Revelation 20 is a battleground between the various views of the
last days. All the different schools of thought on eschatology have their own distinctive
interpretations of Revelation 20. In fact, the four main views derive their names from
Revelation 20: amillennialism, premillennialism, postmillennialism, and premillennial
dispensationalism. For Revelation 20 is the only passage in the Bible that speaks of a
"thousand years," and it is from the Latin word for a thousand (mille) that we derive our
English word "millennium," a key component in the names of the four main eschatological
schools.
I am not going to explain the positions of these four systems of eschatology, for that
would take us too far afield. Nor am I going to critique the various schools of thought; that
would be too much for this article. Instead, I will here set out what I believe to be the right
view, the view of the mainline, historic Christian and Reformed faith, also called
amillennialism. I will simply explain the passage, going through it bit by bit, and, here and
there, I will make the occasional criticism of the other millennial schools.1
So, what does Revelation 20 mean? In the first three verses we will look at the binding
of Satan. In verses 4-6, we will consider the reign of the saints. Verses 7-10 deal with Satan's
little season, Gog and Magog and the final battle. Then there is the judgment of Christ's great
white throne (11-15), but this last section is beyond the scope of this article.
I. The Binding of Satan (1-3)
The very first words of Revelation 20 are vital to its right interpretation. This chapter
does not begin with the word "Then," as if we are dealing with a temporal sequence. It does
not start with "After that" either. It does not even begin with "It shall come to pass." It simply
begins, "And I saw." "And I saw" tells us that here we are dealing with a vision. A vision is
not history; a vision is not even prophecy, as such; it is a special type of prophecy.
Visions are characterized by symbols. By symbols, I am referring to such things as
symbolic numbers, symbolic colors, symbolic names, symbolic metals, symbolic jewels, etc.
Let us consider some visions or dreams, for in the Bible visions and dreams are very similar.
Both visions and dreams contain what the seer "saw." In Daniel 2, we have a giant statue of
gold, silver, bronze, iron and then iron and clay, which symbolize four great world empires.
Daniel 7 presents the same reality, this time under the imagery of four beasts. Daniel sees a
lion and a bear and a leopard and then the fourth beast, dreadful and exceedingly terrible.
These creatures represent Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome. Revelation 13 begins,
"And I saw," and then comes the beast with seven heads and ten horns and ten crowns, part
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lion, part bear, part leopard. "And I saw," tells us that we are dealing with a vision. The book
of Revelation, in general, consists of a sequence of visions.
The main figure in Revelation 20:1-3 is Satan. Satan is here described by four
different names. Two of the names come from animals and two are proper names. He is
called, first, "the dragon" (2). Earlier, he was called a "great red dragon" (12:3). In Revelation
12, he has a mighty tail, seven heads, ten horns and seven crowns. Does the devil really have
these numbers of heads and crowns and so on? No, it is a vision. The point is that the devil
is a powerful, ferocious and terrifying being. Not only is he called "the dragon," but he is
also called "that old serpent" (20:2). In that the serpent is called "old," it refers to the serpent's
tempting Eve in the beginning of the world in Genesis 3. Satan is, therefore, the enemy of
God and His people from ancient times. He is powerful like a dragon and he is subtle like a
serpent. Third, he is called "the Devil" (2). As the devil, he slanders and falsely accuses. The
fourth title is "Satan" (2), that is, the opposer of God and His kingdom. Putting those four
names together, the devil is a powerful, subtle, slanderous opponent. He is all these things as
a fallen angel, an evil spirit, who uses all his might and all his craft against Jesus Christ and
His church. The saints hear God's evaluation of Satan and believe His assessment of him. We
must watch against Satan's attacks and look for all our protection in the Lord, the maker of
heaven and earth (Ps. 121)!
Revelation 20 also proclaims that Satan is bound:
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and
a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is
the Devil and Satan [the four names that we have just considered], and bound him a
thousand years, and cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal
upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should
be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season (1-3).
Is this binding of Satan absolute and complete or is it relative and in part? To express
it a little differently, Can the devil, once he is bound, do absolutely nothing because of his
binding or is he only bound with respect to a particular activity? Again, Is Satan's binding
absolute and complete so that he is bound with respect to absolutely everything or is it a
partial binding with respect to something specified in the Word of God?
What does Revelation 20 say? It tells us that Satan is bound "that he should deceive
the nations no more" (3). Verse 8 informs us, more fully, that when he is loosed (which is
obviously the opposite of being bound), the devil "shall go out to deceive the nations which
are in the four quarters of the earth, Gag and Magog, to gather them together to battle." Their
battle is against Christ's church, as we shall see more fully later. Thus the binding of Satan is
God's restraint of him that stops him from uniting all the nations together to destroy the
church. This is what the passage says. The binding of Satan, as explained in Revelation 20,
is not absolute and complete; it is relative and in part. Verses 3 and 8 specify that his binding
concerns one particular thing, for Satan's binding means that he can not unite all the world in
a full-scale attack against God's people. When, after his binding, he is loosed, he "shall go
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out to deceive the nations which are on the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to
gather them together to battle" (8). This is the thing he cannot do while he was bound. But
when he is loosed, he unites all the nations against the people of God.
The question is now: When does this binding of Satan take place? Here we need to
understand what things were like in the days of the Old Testament. Hear Psalm 147:19-20:
He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel [i.e., the
Jews received the revelation of God through the prophets in the Word]. He hath not
dealt so with any nation: and as for his judgments, they have not known them.
Acts 14:16 makes the same point: God "in times past suffered all nations to walk in
their own ways." In other words, in Old Testament days all the nations were in the thick
darkness of paganism and idolatry (cf. Eph. 2:12). The light of salvation shone only in that
little tract of land in Palestine. That is the way things were in Old Testament times.
Then, in Jesus Christ, God came into the world in human flesh, and He atoned for the
sins of the elect not only in Israel but also in all nations. The church became catholic or
universal, as opposed to being only in Palestine with a few people (like Naaman) converted
in kingdoms round about. The gospel spread throughout the Middle East, Europe, and North
Africa and is now being disseminated throughout the whole world. But, of course, Satan
sought to crush the New Testament church. How would he do that? By deceiving all the
nations to unite together against Christ's bride to destroy her. This is where the binding of
Satan comes in. Jesus Christ bound Satan by His cross and resurrection and the outpouring
of the Holy Spirit (which is the application of the cross). Here, you understand, I am taking
Christ's atoning death, burial, resurrection and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as one
complex of events.
Now we need to look at a few passages. First, in Matthew 12:28-29, Jesus says to the
Pharisees,
But if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto
you. Or else how can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except
he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.
This passage declares (1) that Satan is "cast out" by Christ—the same Greek word is
used in Revelation 20:3 where Satan is cast into the bottomless pit—and (2) that the kingdom
of God is come in Christ and this is proven by Jesus' exorcising demons.
Second, in John 12:31, Christ declares, "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall
the prince of this world be cast out." Note: (1) this word "cast out" is virtually the same word
as that used in Revelation 20:3 where Satan is cast out and (2) Satan is cast out "now." The
next verse goes on to speak of Christ being lifted up on the cross and ascending into heaven.
That is when Satan is cast out.
Third, Colossians 2:15 states that Jesus Christ "spoiled principalities and powers
[including, centrally, Satan]," at the cross.
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Fourth, Hebrews 2:14 teaches us that Jesus came in flesh and blood to die on the cross
in order that "through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the
devil."
Fifth, I John 3:8 proclaims this good news: "The Son of God was manifested, that he
might destroy the works of the devil."
These five New Testament texts unitedly declare that Satan was cast out and spoiled
by Christ at His first coming by His death, burial and resurrection. Of course! For if the death,
burial and resurrection of Christ, the "power of God" (I Cor. 1:24), does not bind Satan or
cast him out, then nothing in the universe could!
Someone might say, though, "This puts the binding of Satan in the past," for the cross
and the events that I have described are in the past. The answer to that is "Yes, that is exactly
where I am putting the binding of Satan: in the past." You say, "What's that doing in the book
of Revelation? Doesn't Revelation 20 speak about things future to us?" Undoubtedly, there
are things in Revelation 20 that are future to us, but some of the chapter refers to events which
have already occurred.
This is not unusual in the book of Revelation. Revelation 5, for instance, speaks about
Christ's ascension and reign. This is the chapter in which the Lamb takes the book. This
vision begins, "And I saw in the right hand ..." (1). Christ's taking the book and beginning to
rule over all things actually occurred in the past—for John too, because John penned
Revelation in the AD 90s, according to most New Testament scholars. Christ took the book
and began to exercise God's rule over the whole universe in the AD 30s upon His ascension
into heaven.
Revelation 12, is similar. It tells us what John saw: "And there appeared a great
wonder in heaven ..." (1). Here we see a woman and a dragon and all sorts of wonderful signs.
In this chapter, we also behold Christ's birth, His ascension, and His reign (2, 4-5). These
things happened in the past from our perspective and they were in the past from John's
perspective when he wrote this book.
The obvious objection to this is: How can Satan be bound now when there is so much
evil in the world? What about all the iniquity that surrounds us? Satan tempts us; he goes
around as a roaring lion seeking those he may devour (I Peter 5:8); he blinds the minds of
those who believe not (II Cor. 4:4). He appears as an angel of light (11:14), who uses false
teachers and false doctrine to lead the church into apostasy. He is called the "God of this
world" (4:4). He stirs up ungodly rulers to persecute the church. You can even see this in the
book of Acts. So how can the devil be bound?
Here I remind you of what I said at the start of this article about the binding of Satan:
the binding of Satan means that he cannot unite all the nations together at one time to
persecute the church and wipe her out until the thousand years are ended (Rev. 20:3, 8). The
binding of Satan does not mean that he does not tempt or stir up persecution against the
church. The binding of Satan means that he does not unite all the nations from the four
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quarters of the earth to destroy the church at one time. So far, this all-out assault upon the
people of God has not happened. Why not? Because Satan is bound, for Christ bound him at
his death and resurrection.
Revelation 20 was written, in part, lest anyone have doubts, that maybe all the nations
will unite to wipe out the church at some point prior to the Antichrist. What does the vision
say? Satan is bound; he is bound by a great chain; he is bound by a great chain by an angel
from heaven and cast into the bottomless pit. What a wonderful thing!
You understand, of course, that these things are figurative. You cannot bind Satan
with a chain; he is a spirit. The trap door, locked with a key, is likewise part of the vision.
The point is that Satan cannot get out; he cannot unite all the nations against the church to
wipe her out, until God wills to lose him in the days of Antichrist.
This teaches us something very important about the millennium, the thousand years
of Revelation 20. It teaches us when the millennium begins. It begins at the death, burial,
resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ, which results in the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.
This is the power that binds Satan. The binding of Satan, then, occurs at the beginning
of the millennium or thousand years spoken of frequently in Revelation 20, the beginning of
the New Testament age.
This also tells us something about the length of the millennium. One thousand nine
hundred and eighty years have now passed since Calvary and Pentecost. The millennium,
therefore, the thousand years of Revelation 20, is not and cannot be literal because some
1,980 years (which is more than 1,000 years) have passed. Psalm 50:10 says that God owns
the cattle on a thousand hills. Who owns the cattle on the thousand and first hill? God's
owning the cattle on a thousand hills means that He owns all the cattle; that is the point.2
The book of Revelation is filled with symbolic numbers, which is exactly what you
would expect, because it consists of visions. Six hundred and sixty-six, the number of the
beast, does not mean that you will be able to identify the Antichrist because he will have 666
tattooed on his forehead. The number, 666, the Bible says, is the number of man (Rev. 13:18).
Antichrist is the epitome of man sinning and coming short (666) of the covenant perfection
of God (777). Seven is also symbolic in Revelation: seven spirits of God, seven eyes, seven
horns, seven speaking thunders, seven heads of the beast, etc. In Revelation 14, we see the
one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, which is twelve times twelve (the number of the
church) times a thousand.
In Revelation 20, what, then, is the symbolism of the thousand years? The answer is
very simple: the number one thousand is ten cubed, ten times ten times ten. Ten in the Bible
is the number of completeness. There were ten plagues—the fullness of God's wrath upon
Egypt. We have ten commandments—the fullness of God's law, of all God's judgments. So
ten times ten times ten, which is a thousand, is the complete and full New Testament age of
the whole catholic church of Jesus Christ.
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When does the millennium end? Revelation 20 says that it ends when Satan is loosed.
Then you have Satan's little season (3) followed by the end of the world. Thus the millennium
finishes at the end of the world minus Satan's little season, a tiny little sliver, immediately
before the very end. Then comes the final judgment in which Jesus Christ will judge the
world on His great white throne (11-15). Acts 24:15 teaches that there will be one
resurrection, both of the just and the unjust, who are raised from the dead for the purpose of
the final judgement.
Let us put all this together. The millennium begins with Christ's first coming, Calvary
and Pentecost. It ends with His second coming, and then we have the final judgment. Thus,
the millennium is the New Testament age, the period from the first to the second advent of
Christ (here, for simplification, I am setting aside the tiny little sliver at the very end before
Christ returns when Satan is loosed). This period, between the first and second comings of
Christ, is pictured as a thousand years in the vision of Revelation 20 for a specific purpose.
It emphasizes the completeness and fullness of the New Testament age.
This is how the New Testament age is complete and full: all the elect are saved from
all nations. These are the days predicted by the prophets as the fulfilment of their hopes until
finally the eternal state is ushered in. This is the era in which Jesus Christ personally rules
from His throne in heaven over all things. This is the age in which the Spirit of Jesus Christ
works in all the world and in which the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church of Christ is
gathered. So the millennium covers the same period as the "last days" (another biblical
phrase), the period from the first coming to the second coming of Christ. These days are
called the "last days" because nothing comes after them but the eternal state. There is no
intermediate period or halfway house between the millennium or last days and the eternal
state.
Now we can see why Satan is bound at the very beginning of the millennium and why
he is not loosed until the very end of the thousand years. For, to speak hypothetically, if all
the nations were allowed to unite against the church, say, some fifty years prior to Christ's
return, then all the elect could not be gathered. Then all the one, holy, catholic, apostolic
church could not be saved. What then about the predictions of the prophets? What about the
rule of Jesus Christ from His throne?
Thus, the message of the millennium is a message of comfort. It is comfort, first of
all, because it proclaims that Jesus Christ is Lord and that He is Lord even of Satan—not in
the sense that the old serpent worships Him as his Saviour, but that He rules over the devil.
He binds Satan and He looses Satan. "Satan," Christ says, in effect, "I am going to see to it
that you do not unite and destroy My church. I am going to bind you. And when I please, and
when you fulfil My purpose, then I'll loose you." Satan just does what he is allowed to do, to
serve the sovereign purpose of Jesus Christ. Second, this is also our comfort: Satan is
defeated. Satan is bound now so he cannot unite all the nations against the church, and then
Satan will be loosed for a little while for one all-out assault on the church. Then, Revelation
20 says, he will be cast into the lake of fire forever and ever (10). All this means, therefore,
that all the church will be saved.
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Since the millennium teaches us that, no matter how fierce the persecution, the whole
church will not be attacked by all the nations together until Satan's little season, the
millennium is the period of missions for the church in which the gospel is sent out to all the
world. The millennium, therefore, means victory for the church. This victory is not the
victory of earthly peace or power or prosperity, as if the church were just another kingdom
of this world. The millennium is a period of victory as a period of spiritual peace, power and
prosperity. Christ's word that His kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36) does not mean
that His kingdom is somehow inferior to all the other kingdoms of this world. No, when He
says that His kingdom is not of this world, He means it is a far better kingdom, a far richer
kingdom—rich with the blessings of peace and fellowship with the true and living God.
Unlike every other kingdom, this one is everlasting and indestructible. All its meek citizens
will inherit the earth (Matt. 5:5).
II. The Reign of the Saints (4-6)
The saints who reign in Revelation 20:4-6 are described, first, as disembodied souls,
that is, they are believers who are physically dead, but who are alive in their souls. Verse 4
begins, "And I saw" (just to remind us that this is still a vision) "thrones, and they sat upon
them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded
for the witness of Jesus." The passage says "souls," but someone could object that sometimes
this means simply "people." True. The Bible tells us, for instance, that seventy souls came to
Egypt (Gen. 46:26-27), and this does not mean seventy disembodied spirits; it means seventy
people (in body and soul). But here we are told in Revelation 20:4 that these are souls who
have been beheaded, and so they have died physically. They are disembodied souls.
The second point is that these saints are in heaven and not on earth. Where else would
those saints be who have died physically and live in their souls? If you look at Revelation
6:9-11, you will see the souls of the saints presented as being under the altar in heaven. We
are told in Revelation 20:4 that these souls, who have been beheaded, sit on thrones, and
thrones are always heavenly in the book of Revelation. Take a concordance and check it out.
Moreover, we read of these souls that they are reigning with Christ, and He (in His body) is
in heaven.
Third, these disembodied souls in heaven are not only those who have been literally
beheaded; they are all the believers in heaven. In the book of Revelation, all the saints are
presented as martyrs. We are martyrs since we are hated by the world because we belong to
Jesus Christ. The world hates Him and therefore it hates us. We are martyrs, too, because all
saints are persecuted by this world. By definition, you cannot be a saint in this fallen world
without being persecuted. Persecution comes in different forms and in varying degrees, but
all saints are hated and are persecuted. Romans 8:36 declares, "As it is written, For thy sake
we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." Paul does not
mean just himself; he means all Christians, all those who are elect and called. "For thy sake
we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter" is a quotation
from Psalm 44:22. It is always this way (both in Old and New Testament days) with God's
beloved people. All Christians fit the characteristics of Revelation 20:4. All persevere in
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holiness in a godless world. Though the degree of our persecution varies, in principle, all
Christians are slain because hatred, as the Bible teaches (cf. Matt. 5:22; I John 3:15), is
principally murder and the world hates God's children.
As describing the disembodied souls of saints in heaven, Revelation 20:4-6 speaks of
the intermediate state of the righteous. "Intermediate" means the period in the middle. It is
the period in between what we currently experience on earth and the eternal state. When we
die, we enter the intermediate state in our souls with Christ in heaven. After that is the eternal
state that begins with the bodily resurrection. Thus Revelation 20:4-6 speaks of the
intermediate state (between our present life and the eternal state).
It teaches us where we are going to be when we die and what it is going to be like.
The life of the people of God after death is a life of reigning as kings. We read of "thrones"
(4), which means we are kings, and as kings on thrones we exercise dominion and rule over
heaven and earth in union with Jesus Christ, the Lord of all. That life is also one in which we
offer sacrifices of praise to God as priests, for verse 6 calls us "priests of God and of Christ."
This is a most exalted priesthood enjoyed by the saints, a greater priesthood even than that
exercised by Aaron or Jehoiada in the Old Testament. It will also be a life of adjudicating as
judges. In the future, we, who are judged unworthy by the world, will judge the world. This
rich life as kings and priests and judges is a life with Jesus Christ and in His presence. Thus
verse 6 says, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection." This is the state
of all the dead who die in Christ, including many people whom we have known. This is where
they are today, and this is the life that we personally shall enjoy with Jesus Christ at our
death, unless He returns first.
Revelation 20:5 states, "This is the first resurrection." This first resurrection is not the
bodily resurrection because John tells us that he saw the souls of them that were beheaded.
It is not regeneration either, for although regeneration is spoken of in the Bible as a
resurrection, these souls are in heaven and not on earth. The first resurrection is the
intermediate state of those who die in Jesus Christ, it is their being raised to heavenly glory.
Thus verse 4 describes the state of the righteous dead in heaven, and the first part of verse 5
excludes unbelievers from this blessedness: "the rest of the dead lived not" (there is no Greek
equivalent for the word "again" in the AV) "until the thousand years were finished"—they
do not have a part in that glorious life in heaven. Then it says, "This is the first resurrection."
Verse 6 continues, "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection."
If the first resurrection is the resurrection of the soul of the believer into heaven at
death, what is the second resurrection? The second resurrection is the resurrection of the body
of the believer at the return of Jesus Christ. Thus, the first resurrection concerns the soul of
the believer; the second resurrection concerns his body. The first resurrection occurs at death;
the second resurrection occurs at the return of Jesus Christ. So, what is resurrected at the first
resurrection? The soul. What is resurrected at the second resurrection? The body. When does
it take place? The first resurrection occurs at death; the second resurrection at the second
coming of Christ. Our first resurrection at death and our second resurrection at Christ's return
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together effect the perfect transformation of the believer, both soul and body when we shall
perfectly bear the image of Jesus Christ.
After looking at the first and, by implication, the second resurrection with respect to
believers, we need to consider "the second death" (6, 14) and, by implication, the first death.
What does Revelation 20 teach about this second death? Verse 6 says that the second death
is not for the believer: "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such
the second death hath no power." So, believers do not experience the second death. Verse 14
states concerning the second death, "And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This
is the second death." The second death, then, is eternal punishment in the flames of the lake
of fire. So while the first and second resurrections in Revelation 20 are for the believer, the
(first and) second deaths are for the unbeliever. And if the second death of the unbeliever is
the lake of fire, which is torment in body and soul, the first death is their intermediate state,
hell, which is torment in soul.
I am going to run through it again in order to parallel the two. What happens to the
believer? At death, he experiences the first resurrection: he lives with Christ in heaven in his
soul. At Christ's return, he receives the second resurrection: he lives with Christ in the new
heavens and new earth in body and soul. This view of the resurrection, the first resurrection
being that of the soul at death and the second resurrection being that of the body at Christ's
return, accords with the Heidelberg Catechism (Q. & A. 57).3 What happens to the
unbeliever? What is his first death? That is when he dies in his body and he, in his soul, enters
the intermediate state for the wicked. Like the rich man in Luke 16, he lifts up his eyes in
hell being in torments. The second death occurs when, at Christ's return (and the general
resurrection and the final judgment), his body and soul are cast into the lake of fire to endure
eternal punishment.
Thus Revelation 20:4-6 tells us about what is happening with the church both in
heaven and, by implication, on earth during the thousand years. On earth, between the first
and second comings of Christ, Christians are tempted to commit idolatry: to worship the
beast and his image, and to receive his mark (4). The Christian church is always tempted by
the world and the false church to commit idolatry, and so I John 5:21 commands, "Little
children, keep yourselves from idols." This temptation to idolatry will intensify with the
deeper apostasy as our Lord's return draws nearer (cf. II Thess. 2:3-4, 7, 9-12). This means,
second, that faithful Christians are persecuted when they refuse to commit idolatry and
worship the beast in whatever form he is manifested through the New Testament age. Then
at death, Christians live and reign and judge with Christ in heaven in their souls (the first
resurrection), where the blessed dead currently are, awaiting the second resurrection, which
is the resurrection of the body at the personal return of Jesus Christ on the clouds of heaven.
What can we say about the unbelievers during the New Testament or millennial age?
They live in sin and the hatred of God and they tempt and persecute the church (Rev. 20:4).
Each of the ungodly at his first (physical) death is cast into hell in his soul; then at the second
death he is cast into the lake of fire where he is tormented in both body and soul.
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III. Satan's Little Season, Gog and Magog and the Final Battle (7-10)
At the end of the millennium or New Testament era, "Satan shall be loosed out of his
prison" (7), that is, as verse 8 specifies, he "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." This period is called "a little season" (3). From this we
get the phrase "Satan's little season." And why "little season?" Because it is a brief period. It
is a brief period, especially when compared to the thousand years. Satan is bound for a
thousand years. Then he is allowed a little season, in which he carries out his dastardly plan
(for a while), and so fulfils God's eternal purpose. What does Satan do in this little season?
He gathers Gog and Magog to battle (8).
The first and only reference to Gog and Magog in the Old Testament is in Ezekiel 38
and 39. Gog is presented as a chief prince and Magog is a people or country. The idea of
Ezekiel 38 and 39 is that Gog and Magog constitute a particularly evil, fierce and numerous
enemy. They are a vast army that swarms and destroys. They come up to attack the people
of God, and then the Almighty comes and destroys them suddenly.
Revelation 20 picks up this reference to Gog and Magog in Ezekiel, and presents Gog
and Magog as the final, great enemy that attacks God's church. Gog and Magog are not Russia
or China. In fact, they are not any particular individual nation at all. They are described in
verse 8 under three names. First, they are called "the nations:" "Satan shall go out to deceive
the nations." Second, more specifically, the nations "which are in the four quarters of the
earth." Third, they are called "Gog and Magog," a fearsome enemy mentioned in Ezekiel 38-
39. If you put these details together, Gog and Magog, that terrible enemy described in the
Old Testament, are the nations in the four quarters of the earth, all the ungodly of the world.
More particularly, God and Magog are the wicked world, as it is united under Satan
who, being released and loosed, gathers all the ungodly together to persecute and destroy the
saints (Rev. 20:9). Satan has his man over them; he is called "the man of sin" in II
Thessalonians 2 or "antichrist" in I John 2:18 or "the beast" in the book of Revelation.
Revelation also explains the role of the false prophet as one who seduces the nations with his
lying propaganda so that they enlist in the service of the beast. Through Antichrist, aided by
the false prophet, Satan gathers Gog and Magog to the final battle.
Revelation 20:9 says that Gog and Magog, the ungodly nations of the four quarters of
the earth, "went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about,
and the beloved city." We need to specify who this "camp," this "beloved city" (Jerusalem),
is. This camp and this beloved city are not national Israel and the earthly Jerusalem. This
camp of the saints, this beloved city, is the New Testament church of Jesus Christ. I say this
because the New Testament teaches explicitly and repeatedly that we are the true Jews. We,
Gentile and Jewish believers in Christ, are "the circumcision" (Phil. 3:3). He is not a Jew who
is one outwardly whose circumcision is in the flesh; he is Jew who is one inwardly, who is
circumcised in the heart and by the Spirit (Rom. 2:28-29). What does the word "Jew" mean?
It means "praise" (29). Who are the people who praise God? First, the Messiah and, second,
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all those who are in Him. They are the only humans who truly praise God. Galatians 4:26
states that "Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all." That is the
Jerusalem in which we are supremely interested, the one that is above and not the one that is
in the Middle East. Hebrews 12:22 speaks to this same subject as well. It says to New
Testament believers (over against the earthly, unbelieving nation of the Jews), "ye are come
unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem."
Identifying the "beloved city" in Revelation 20:9 as the church, practically defines the
nature of the battle. It is a vision: there is a massive army, coming from all the quarters of the
earth, surrounding this city. The reality portrayed by the vision is that all the ungodly will
systematically and unitedly persecute the true church wherever she is found throughout the
world. This persecution takes various forms, as the book of Revelation describes. Believers
will be unable to buy or sell (13:16-17). This has happened in various places at certain times,
and it will intensify as the end approaches. Then there is the mark of the beast: you will have
to identify openly with the antichristian system and Antichrist himself, and you will have to
worship the beast and his image, or you will die (20:4). All the world wonders after the beast
with all its false miracles and power and popularity, apart from the faithful saints (13:1-18).
Then, just when everything looks bleakest for the church of Christ on earth, fire comes down
from God in heaven and devours Antichrist and all his forces (20:9).
This is the second coming of Jesus Christ for judgment, described in much the same
way as it is presented in II Thessalonians 2:8, when Antichrist shall be destroyed with the
brightness of Christ's coming. The Lord shall consume the man of sin with the spirit of His
mouth and shall destroy him with the brightness of His coming. In Revelation 19:19, this
same battle is spoken of: "I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies,
gathered together to make war" (literally "the war" or "the battle") "against him that sat upon
the horse, and against his army."4 Revelation 16:14 speaks of this same battle: "They are the
spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole
world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." It is called the battle
of "Armageddon" in verse 16: "And he gathered them together into a place called in the
Hebrew tongue Armageddon." Then all the ungodly are destroyed, and the beast and the false
prophet and Satan are captured and cast into the lake of fire (19:20; 20:10).
So, to what sort of a world does Christ return? He does not come back to a converted or
Christianized world. He returns, to take up the imagery of Revelation 20, for a remnant
church, for the nations on the four quarters of the earth are gathered together against one,
besieged city. This is a picture of a minority, certainly not of a majority. Christ returns to
punish an ungodly world dominated by Antichrist, who reigns over the whole earth, and to
deliver His beloved people.
This does not destroy my hope because my hope is not that all the nations of the earth
will one day be Christianized. My hope is that "blessed hope," namely, "the glorious
appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13), when all the elect has
been saved. Then all the wickedness of Satan, man and the fallen angels will be judged; every
wrong will be righted; all the elect church will be gathered, perfected and vindicated; and we
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shall be prepared with new, glorified, resurrection bodies for the bliss of the new heavens
and the new earth wherein dwells righteousness forever. Sorrow, tears, pain and death will
be no more; God's name will be worshipped in all the world; Christ's name shall be in our
foreheads and we shall see His face! "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first
resurrection" ... and in the second resurrection!
The speech from which this article is derived can be listened to on-line.2Here are
some more non-literal uses of the number 1,000 in the Bible:
1. Deuteronomy 7:9: "Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the
faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and
keep his commandments to a thousand generations."
2. I Chronicles 16:15: "Be ye mindful always of his covenant; the word which he
commanded to a thousand generations."
3. Job 9:3: "If he will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of a thousand."
4. Psalm 50:10: "For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand
hills."
5. Psalm 84:10: "For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand."
6. Psalm 90:4: "For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past,
and as a watch in the night."
7. Psalm 105:8: "He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he
commanded to a thousand generations."
8. Ecclesiastes 6:6: "Yea, though he live a thousand years twice told, yet hath he
seen no good: do not all go to one place?"
9. Ecclesiastes 7:28: "... one man among a thousand have I found; but a woman
among all those have I not found."
10. Song of Solomon 4:4: "Thy neck is like the tower of David builded for an
armoury, whereon there hang a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men."
11. II Peter 3:8: "But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with
the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day."
3"Q. What comfort doth the 'resurrection of the body' afford thee?
A. That not only my soul after this life shall be immediately taken up to Christ its
head [i.e., the first resurrection]; but also, that this my body, being raised by the power of
Christ, shall be reunited with my soul, and made like unto the glorious body of Christ [i.e.,
the second resurrection].
"4Two sermons on "The Last Battle" (Rev. 19:11-21) are available on-line: The Last
Battle (I) and The Last Battle (II).
Source: http://www.cprf.co.uk/articles/revelation20.htm#.WQ-f0Ma21PY
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THE MILLENNIUM IS NOW
(Cornelis P. Venema)
The Millennium is Now

We have observed that a key issue in the interpretation of this passage is that of the
relation between Revelation 19:11-21 and Revelation 20:1-11. If Revelation 19 is a vision of
the second coming of Christ at the end of the present age, and if Revelation 20 describes
events which occur after this event, then the primary claim of Premillennialism would seem
to be established. For on this understanding, the millennium would commence after the return
of Christ.
However, must these visions be read in chronological succession, as premillennialists
typically maintain? Or are there reasons to believe that the events depicted in these visions
may parallel each other?
Though the premillennial claim on this point has an initial plausibility, there are
several reasons, some more significant than others, why they should be read as parallel
descriptions of the same time period. A careful study of these visions within the setting of
the book of Revelation as a whole suggests that they describe the same period of history, but
from differing vantage points.
I. THE RECAPITULATORY STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION
Students of the book of Revelation have observed that it is structured according to a
series of visions, several of which repeat or recapitulate events and periods of history covered
in preceding or following visions. Each of these cover events that occur within the period
between Christ’s first and second coming. This being so, the book can hardly be read as a
prophecy of future events in their exact chronological order. The visions recorded overlap a
great deal, and often jump from one set of events to another. In spite of the wide range of
interpretations of the book, most interpreters agree that it should not be read as a historical
novel, a preview of upcoming events listed in their order of occurrence.1
William Hendriksen, for example, in his overview of the book of Revelation
concludes that its structure is one of ‘progressive parallelism’. He notes that the book can be
divided into seven distinct sections, the first three sections describing events between Christ’s
first and second comings as they transpire upon the earth, the second four sections describing
events between Christ’s first and second comings as they transpire in heaven. The first three
sections are: the description of Christ dwelling among the seven churches in the world,
represented by means of the seven lampstands (chapters 1-3); the vision of the church
suffering trial and persecution, represented by the seven seals (chapters 4-7); and the
description of the church protected and ultimately vindicated, represented by the seven
trumpets (chapters 8-11). In these first three sections of the book, the progress and unfolding
of events under Christ’s dominion are portrayed from the vantage point of the earth. These
sections describe the foreground of history.
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However, in the last four sections of the book, events are described from the vantage
point of their background, that is, the conflict between Christ and the Antichrist. These four
sections are: the description of Christ opposed by the dragon and his helpers (chapters 12-
14); the description of the pouring out of God’s wrath upon the unbelieving and impenitent,
represented by means of the seven bowls of judgement (chapters 15-16);the description of
the fall of Babylon and of the beasts (chapters 17-19); and the description of the final defeat
of the dragon, including the commencement of the final state (chapters 20-22). According to
Hendriksen, the seven sections of the book of Revelation should be read as parallel
descriptions of the period between the first and the second comings of Christ. They parallel
and often recapitulate events earlier described in preceding visions. Furthermore, as the book
of Revelation proceeds, it progressively emphasizes events that lie upon the furthest horizon
of history, just prior to the end of the present age. For this reason, the book concludes with a
grand vision of the state of consummation, the new heavens and the new earth.2
Whether Hendriksen’s analysis of the structure of the book of Revelation is entirely
correct in all of its particulars is not so important at this juncture. What is important is that it
illustrates a commonly acknowledged feature of the book: that it should not be read as a
linear description of end-time events. The simple fact that one vision follows another vision
in the book does not mean that it does so chronologically. As is often true throughout the
book, the events depicted may well parallel and recapitulate events represented in a preceding
vision.
This means that the visions of Revelation 19 and 20 need not be read as though they
depicted events in sequence. If other clues in the text suggest that these visions are parallel
or recapitulatory, then there is no reason to insist, certainly no reason so far as the structure
of the book of Revelation is concerned, to insist that they are in chronological order.
It is important to recognize this general structure of the book of Revelation because it
raises the question whether Revelation 20 might be introducing a new vision sequence, a
vision whose events parallel and repeat the course of events earlier depicted in other visions.
An analysis of the general structure of Revelation alone, however, is insufficient proof that
this is in fact the case. The question is, Does the text specifically indicate that Revelation 20
begins a new vision sequence in parallel with the vision of Revelation 19? Indeed, it does.
Several features of the visions of Revelation 19 and 20 corroborate the thesis that they should
be read not in sequence, but in parallel to each other.
At least six such features are of particular significance.
1. The theme of angelic ascent and descent
The vision of Revelation 20 begins with the descent of an angel from heaven in order
to bind Satan for a period of one thousand years. In other instances, in the book of Revelation
where an angel’s ascent or descent begins a new vision sequence, the vision portrays the
course of events from the present time to the time of Christ’s return at the end of the age. For
example, similar visions of an angel ascending or descending are found in Revelation 7:2,
10:1 and 18:1. In these instances, the angel’s ascent or descent occurs at a time clearly prior
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to the return of Christ and marks the beginning of a vision whose sequence of events
concludes with the coming of Christ in final victory over his enemies. It would not be
surprising, accordingly, were the angel’s descent in Revelation 20 to be another instance of
this pattern. Not only would this be consistent with the structuring of the book of Revelation
throughout, but it would also be following a pattern evident elsewhere, in which vision
sequences that parallel each other are introduced by the announcement of an ascending or
descending angel.
2. The discrepancy between Revelation 19:11-21 and Revelation 20:1-3
Secondly, the visions of Revelation 19 and Revelation 20 show an obvious
discrepancy if they are read in chronological sequence. In Revelation 19:11-21, especially
verses 19-21, we see a vision of Christ’s triumph over and destruction of the nations that are
opposed to his kingdom. The language used to describe this triumph is vigorous: all the
nations are described as taking up arms against Christ and are said to fall without exception
by the sword that he wields against them. Christ’s victory over the nations is complete and
final. They are wholly destroyed at his coming. However, if the vision of Revelation 20
follows in time and sequence the vision of Revelation 19, it seems senseless to speak of the
binding of Satan in order to prevent his deception of the nations. Presumably, nations that
have been utterly destroyed constitute no viable or continuing threat to the reign of Christ or
the deceptive wiles of Satan. What sense does it make to speak of nations being protected
from Satanic deception, when those nations which were formerly deceived by Satan have
now been completely vanquished?
Premillennialists who recognize this discrepancy might suggest, in order to mute its
obvious implications for their view, that the nations of Revelation 20 are survivors of the
battle described in Revelation 19. This suggestion, however, presents two difficulties. On the
one hand, the language of the nations’ defeat in Revelation 19 is too absolute to allow for the
notion that some nations survive unscathed. And on the other hand, the terminology of ‘the
nations’ in Revelation typically denotes nations in their opposition to Christ and his church.
The nations are the nations in rebellion against the Lord’s anointed. However, on this
premillennialist construction, the nations of Revelation 20 would actually be the peoples of
the earth during the millennial reign of Christ. The nations of Revelation 20 would have a
different reference from the nations mentioned just before in Revelation 19.
3. The use of Ezekiel 38-39 in these visions
In the visions of Revelation 19 and 20, the language used is extensively borrowed
from Ezekiel 38-39. This prophecy describes a great end-time battle between the Lord and
the nations of the north who are opposed to him and his people. In the description of this
great battle upon the mountains of Israel, reference is made to Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech
and Tubal, and to Magog.
There are several striking parallels between Ezekiel 38-39 and Revelation 19 and 20.
In Revelation 19:17-18, an angel issues an invitation to the great supper of God. This is
almost an exact quotation of the invitation extended for the Gog-Magog conflict in the
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prophecy of Ezekiel (39:17-20). However, in Revelation 20:7-10, when the Apostle John
describes the great warfare that will conclude Satan’s little season at the close of the
millennium, the prophecy of Ezekiel regarding Gog-Magog is again drawn upon extensively.
The nations in rebellion are termed Gog and Magog (verse 8; cf. Ezek. 38:2; 39:1, 6). The
weapon used by God to destroy Gog-Magog is a fire coming down from heaven (verse 9;cf.
Ezek. 38:22; 39:6). This means that the Apostle John, in his respective descriptions of the
rebellion and defeat of the nations in Revelation 19 and 20, is drawing upon identical
language and imagery from Ezekiel’s prophecy. It seems hard to believe, accordingly, that
the episodes described in these visions are different episodes in history, separated by a period
of one thousand years duration. A much more plausible reading would conclude that these
visions describe the same event and are to be read as parallel descriptions of the same
historical period.
4. The battle of Revelation 19:19 and 20:8
The visions of Revelation 19 and 20 show a similar parallelism in their description of
the battle that will terminate the period of history portrayed in them. In three instances in the
book of Revelation, an end-time conflict between Christ and his enemies, a conflict in which
Christ is triumphant and the rebellious nations defeated, is described as ‘the battle’. Not only
is the definite article used, suggesting that this battle represents a final and conclusive defeat
of Christ’s enemies, but also the language used to describe the nations’ revolt and campaign
against Christ is virtually identical (see Rev. 16:14; 19:19, 20:8).
Interpreters of the book of Revelation readily acknowledge the parallels between the
description in Revelation 16:14-21 of the battle on the great day of Christ’s second coming
and the description in Revelation 19:19-21. The latter battle is regarded commonly as a
resumption and conclusion of the battle first described in Revelation 16. Fewer interpreters
have noticed the similarities of language in Revelation 20:7-10 in its description of the Gog-
Magog revolt. This is likely due to the assumption that the battle of Revelation 20:8 refers to
a different battle after the millennium from the battle that occurred before the millennium at
the time of Christ’s second coming.
If we reckon with the possibility of a parallel description of the same period of history
in Revelation 19 and 20, then it is likely that the battle described in these passages is one and
the same battle. Rather than positing the reoccurrence of a similar conflict and victory for
Christ at the end of the millennium, a conflict that replays the earlier war that concluded
history at Christ’s second coming, it is more likely that these battles are the same battle,
variously described in visions that parallel each other and depict the same historical period.5
5. The end of God’s wrath
When Revelation 19 and 20 are read as two visions in sequence, a further discrepancy
is introduced. Just as we noted a discrepancy between the complete destruction of all the
rebellious nations in Revelation 19 and their continued presence in Revelation 20 (were these
two visions describing events in sequence), so there is a discrepancy between the end of
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God’s wrath in Revelation 19 and the further outpouring of his wrath and judgement yet
again in Revelation 20.
Revelation 15:1 contains an important declaration regarding the end of God’s wrath:
‘And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels who had seven plagues,
which are the last, because in them the wrath of God is finished.’ This verse indicates that
the dispensing of the seven bowls of wrath by the seven angels will bring to a close the
outpouring of God’s wrath upon the wicked in the course of history. The last of these bowls
of wrath is described in Revelation 16:17-21, a passage that concludes with the final defeat
of Christ’s enemies, the nations in the vision of Revelation 19:19-21. The vision of
Revelation 19, therefore, represents the completion of the course of history and the finishing
of God’s wrath upon the nations. The time frame for the fulfilment of the outpouring of God’s
wrath in Revelation 15:1 is concluded by the vision of Revelation 19.
However, on a premillennialist reading of the visions of Revelation 19 and 20, the
battle and pouring out of God’s wrath in the vision of Revelation 20 comes one thousand
years later than the battle and pouring out of God’s wrath in the vision of Revelation 19.
Thus, this reading conflicts with the teaching of Revelation 15:1. It suggests that God’s wrath
in history is not finished with the events depicted in the vision of Revelation 19. Some one
thousand years later would come another and truly last outpouring of God’s wrath upon the
nations. The deadline set for the completion of God’s wrath in history in Revelation 15:1
would be exceeded. For this and the reasons already mentioned, it makes better sense to read
the vision of Revelation 20 as a recapitulation of the period of history earlier described in
Revelation 19. Both visions would then be describing the same battle at the close of history
with the final outpouring of God’s wrath upon the nations.
6. The cosmic destruction of Revelation 19:11-21 and 20:9-11
Finally, another parallel in the visions of Revelation 19 and 20 reflects the influence
of Old Testament prophecy. The Old Testament scenes of the Lord’s judgements and
triumphs among the nations often refer to the involvement of the created universe in these
events. Similarly, many of the visions in Revelation of the warfare between Christ and his
enemies describe the shaking of the cosmos itself. It is remarkable to notice in a series of
such descriptions in the book of Revelation, how this shaking accompanies the coming of
Christ as King and the exercise of his judgement upon the nations (e.g., 6:12-17; 16:17-21;
19:11-21; 20:9-11). The last two instances of this association of Christ’s coming in victory
and the shaking of the earth itself occur in the visions of Revelation 19 and 20.
Again, this would confirm that these visions describe the same end-time event, but
from a slightly different vantage point. Since the shaking of the earth at Christ’s coming is
elsewhere said to be the last instance of such shaking, after which nothing shakeable will
remain to be shaken further (Heb. 12:26-27), it would not make sense to say that the shaking
of the cosmos at Christ’s second coming (Rev. 19) would still have to be followed by a further
shaking of the cosmos at the end of the millennium (Rev. 20). A more likely reading would
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take these two visionary descriptions of this shaking to refer to the end of present history at
the second coming of Christ.
These various clues and indicators of parallels between the visions of Revelation 19
and 20 having been considered, it may be helpful to summarize their significance for the
understanding of the vision of the millennium in Revelation 20.
The premillennialist position depends significantly upon the claim that the visions of
Revelation 19 and 20 are to be read in sequence. Since Revelation 19 is a vision of the return
of Christ, and since the millennium of Revelation 20 follows this event, it seems that the
premillennial position is the most likely one. However, if the considerations we have
summarized in the preceding are correct, the premillennial position is seriously
compromised, if not refuted. Not only does Premillennialism enjoy little support from other
portions of Scripture, but it also fails to provide a plausible account of the relation between
the visions of Revelation 19 and 20. For if these visions are not to be read in sequence but as
parallel accounts of the same period of history, then the millennium of Revelation 20 would
precede rather than follow the event of Christ’s return at the end of the age.
This seems to be the conclusion to which the above considerations lead. Just as the
vision of Revelation 19 describes the return of Christ, the complete destruction of all of the
nations, the last outpouring of God’s wrath at the close of the present period of history, so
the vision of Revelation 20 closes with a description of the return of Christ at the close of the
millennium, the complete destruction of all the nations, and the last outpouring of God’s
wrath at the close of the present period of history. The parallels between these visions — in
language, symbolism, use of Old Testament prophecy, and content — is so pervasive and
compelling as to yield but one likely explanation: they are describing the same period of
history, the same episodes and the same conclusion at the end of the age.
This means that in our study of the vision in Revelation 20 of the millennium, we
have every reason to believe that the millennium it describes is now. The millennium of
Revelation 20 coincides with the period of history prior to Christ’s return at the end of the
age, prior to the day of Christ’s final victory over his and his people’s enemies, and prior to
the last judgement and all the other events that will accompany the close of this present age.
Notes
1. As noted previously, a preterist reading of the book says that the events described
in its language of vision and prophecy were events occurring or about to occur at the time
the book was first written. These events are, from our vantage point, past events, things that
have already occurred — hence the term. A futurist reading of the book says that the events
described in its prophecy are events yet to occur in the future, primarily in the period just
prior to Christ’s coming at the end of the age. An historicist reading of the book identifies
the events in the visions of Revelation with historical developments throughout the history
of the church. An idealist reading of the book says that the visions and prophecy of Revelation
refer to events that typify the principles and forces at work in the entire period of history
between Christ’s first and second comings. See G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation,pp. 44-
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49. Following Beale, who argues for an eclecticism or ‘redemptive-historical form of
modified idealism’, it is best to read the book of Revelation, not exclusively in terms of one
of these approaches, but inclusively in terms of the insights of each. The book, though
addressed originally to the circumstance of the church in the first century of the Christian
era, certainly speaks of events that will occur prior to the return of Christ and as well of events
that are typical of the entire period of history in which we now live.
2. See William Hendriksen, More Than Conquerors (1967; repr. Grand Rapids:
Baker, 1975), pp. 11-64. Hendriksen’s analysis treats Revelation 20 as an introduction of a
new vision sequence spanning the period from Christ’s first coming to his second coming
and the consummation.
3. In what follows, I am especially indebted to R. Fowler White who has thoroughly
examined the relation of the visions in Revelation 19 and 20 and summarized his findings in
two studies: ‘Reexamining the Evidence for Recapitulation in Rev 20:1-10’, Westminster
Theological Journal 51/2 (Fall 1989), pp. 319-44; and ‘Making Sense of Rev 20:1-10? Harold
Hoehner Versus Recapitulation’, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 37/4
(December 1994), pp. 539-51. For an earlier treatment of this relation that anticipates some
of ‘White’s arguments, see Raymond Zorn, Christ Triumphant: Biblical Perspectives on his
Church and Kingdom (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1997), pp. 106-7 (previously published
as Church and Kingdom,1962).
4. Thus, premillennialists, recognizing John’s use of the same prophecy in Ezekiel
38-39 to describe these allegedly distinct episodes, disagree among themselves whether
Ezekiel 38-39 is fulfilled before and/or after the millennium. See, for example, R. H.
Alexander, ‘A Fresh Look at Ezekiel 38 and 39’, Journal of the Evangelical Theological
Society, 17 (1994), pp. 157-169.
5. Perhaps this is the place to mention a phrase coined by Jay Adams in his criticism
of Premillennialism. Adams uses the phrase ‘premillennial diplopia’ to describe the double-
vision that often characterizes its reading of Scripture in general and the book of Revelation
in particular. Because differing visions that describe the same history and events are read as
though they described different events in sequence, a doubling occurs (two second comings
of Christ or victories at the end of the age, two resurrections, etc.). See Jay Adams, The Time
Is At Hand,pp. 17-40.
Source: https://www.the-highway.com/rev20b_Venema.html
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The Church in God’s Eternal Purpose
THE CHURCH IN
GOD’S ETERNAL
PURPOSE
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. The church is nowhere predicted in the Old Testament, but is rather “the great
parenthesis” filling the time gap the Jewish rejection of the earthly kingdom caused.
2. the church is not the actual promised kingdom but rather only some kind of “mystery
form” or “proleptic manifestation” into which the kingdom has been necessarily
transformed for the present.
3. An actual physical earthly kingdom yet awaits the people of God.
4. Premillennialists see the church as an afterthought in God’s dealing with man.
5. Such speculations are fueled by the literalist dispensational view of Christ’s kingdom
as an earthly reign to be inaugurated at his second coming.
Doctrine Defeated.
1. Peter preaches on Pentecost that while the Jews were responsible, morally
accountable for their part in His death, at the same time, that death was a
predetermined death altogether in accord with God’s determinate council and
foreknowledge (Acts 2:33).
2. This was planned before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1:18-20; Ephesians 1:4;
Romans 8:28-30; 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Timothy 1:9).
3. The church is part of God’s purpose (Ephesians 3:8-12).
4. The kingdom was prophesied in the Old Testament (Isaiah 2:2-3; Daniel 2:44).
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True
TRUE
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THE PREMILLENNIAL VIEW OF CHRIST AND HIS KINGDOM
(Clyde Woods)
In his book, until: The Coming of Messiah and His Kingdom, Robert Shank expresses
premillennial hope and anticipation in the following words:
The world stage is set for the fulfillment of all the great prophetic events of the final
days of the age, as declared in the Scriptures. Prophecies are being fulfilled before
our eyes, the tempo is accelerating, and the end will come with a rush of events... In
the light of the prophetic Scriptures, everything in the world scene today—especially
the existence and peril of the little nation Israel and the ominous gathering of the dark
storm clouds over the Middle East and all the world—indicates that the coming of the
Messiah and his glorious world kingdom is at hand. But first, before the Dawn...the
awful darkness of “the time of Jacob’s trouble” and the climactic clash of ideologies,
nations, and blocs in the rush to Armageddon and judgment at the coming of Messiah
(13).
Such contemporary speculation is fueled by the literalist dispensational view of

Christ’s kingdom as an earthly reign to be inaugurated at his second coming. While
Premillennialists vary greatly in the details of their futuristic and speculative scenarios they
agree somewhat on the following five propositions:
1. An earthly kingdom was promised to Israel in the Old Testament.

2. This kingdom promise was renewed by Jesus as he announced the kingdom is “at
hand.”
3. Jesus’ kingship and his earthly kingdom were, however, rejected by the Jews.
4. Accordingly, the earthly kingdom was “postponed” until Christ’s second advent.
5. This promised kingdom will thus be realized in the millennium following, among
other things, the “Rapture,” the “great Tribulation,” the “Revelation,” and
“Armageddon.”
Buttressing a literalist view of Revelation 20:1-6 with similar interpretations of

numerous passages in God’s prophetic word, Shank and other premillennial writers insist
that only their analysis truly unfolds the meaning of the Biblical teaching about the kingdom
of Christ. Challenging this analysis this presentation will treat briefly three concerns: 1) The
Question of Literalism, 2) The Question of the Church, and 3) The Question of Time. Positive
emphasis on the church as “The Unshakable Kingdom” concludes our study.
THE QUESTION OF LITERALISM
The claimed strength and persistent appeal of premillennialism is its supposed

principle of thoroughgoing literalism in interpretation of the prophetic Scriptures. But this
principle creates impossible difficulties and must be, on occasion, abandoned by the
premillennial exegete. Otherwise, for example, David and Christ share the same millennial
throne (Ezek. 37:25), two hundred million Chinese cavalry journey through a vast arid desert
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to invade Palestine (Rev. 9:16) and animal sacrifices are offered in the millennium “to make
atonement” (Ezek. 43:20,22; 45:18-20) despite the clear teaching of Hebrews.
In point of fact, however, total literalism in interpreting the prophetic visions is
impossible in the light of plain Biblical teaching elsewhere. Such an approach leads to
absurdities and creates contradictions among the prophets themselves and between the
ancient prophecies and the interpretation of them by the New Testament writers. Developing
this theme quite effectively in his comments on Ezekiel chapters 34-38, Jim McGuiggan lists
seven fundamental objections which produce insuperable obstacles for those advocating
thoroughgoing literalisms in interpreting the Old Testament prophetic imagery. As
McGuiggan notes, such thinking requires:
1. An eternal and literal restoration of the Levitical priesthood.
2. An eternal and literal restoration of Levitical sacrifices for sin.
3. An eternal and literal restoration of circumcision as essential to communion with
God.
4. An eternal and literal restoration of David as king over Israel.
5. An eternal and literal restoration of Sabbath observance for all the nations of the
earth.
6. A literal restoration of ancient nations to national existence in their ancient land
areas.
7. An eternal and literal restoration of the Mosaic covenant (McGuiggan 93-96).
Thus, the prophetic visions cannot be consistently interpreted in a thoroughgoing
literal fashion. The answer to this problem is not found in a compromised premillennial
scenario. Instead, rejecting this speculation entirely, one must recognize the New Testament
emphasis upon the spiritual meaning of the prophetic visions and thus realize that prophets
such as Ezekiel envisioned New Testament realities in imagery belonging to their own time.
THE QUESTION OF THE CHURCH
Implicit in premillennial scenarios is the idea that the church age, while an important
age of grace in the present time, is nowhere predicted in the Old Testament, but is rather “the
great parenthesis” filling the time gap the Jewish rejection of the earthly kingdom caused.
Thus, the church is not the actual promised kingdom but rather only some kind of “mystery
form” or “proleptic manifestation” into which the kingdom has been necessarily transformed
for the present. An actual physical earthly kingdom yet awaits the people of God.
Refusal to accept the spiritual kingdom, the church, as the fulfillment of prophetic
hopes also creates for Premillennialists multiplied difficulties. The promise to Mary in Luke
1:32 that her son would be given the throne of his father. David should not have to wait
thousands of years for its fulfillment. As noted in more detail later, Premillennialists must
imagine a fifth world power in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of four kingdoms (Dan. 2).
Premillennialists must further imagine that while the first sixty-nine weeks of Daniel’s vision
of the seventy-seven in chapter 9 point to Jesus’ first coming, the seventieth week awaits his
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return. Apparently, Daniel’s prophetic clock stopped at the crucifixion and has not ticked
since. Clearly, premillennial speculation involves too much exegetical imagination.
Further denial that the church is the kingdom envisioned by the prophets has serious
repercussions for the doctrine of the church. Placing the church age as some kind of
“parenthesis” between Daniel’s sixty-ninth and seventieth weeks undoubtedly reduces the
significance of the church. Calling the church but a “proleptic manifestation” miserably fails
to do justice to the meaning of the stirring and unique events of Pentecost set forth in Acts 2
and totally fails to measure up to inspiration’s proclamation that the church is the fulfillment
of God’s eternal purpose (Eph. 1: 9,10; 3:8-12).
THE QUESTION OF TIME
Rejecting the kingdom that came (the church) as the kingdom promised, Shank and
all such theorists await another kingdom, an earthly millennium. Another insurmountable
problem for this speculation, however is the fact that the New Testament picture of the last
things simply does not leave room for a thousand-year period between the Lord’s second
coming and eternity.
The Bible teaches that when Christ comes again, all the dead will be raised in
preparation for the one great judgment day which immediately precedes final reward or
punishment in eternity. To satisfy their speculation, however, Premillennialists must speak
of different comings, various resurrections separated by a thousand years or more, and
multiple judgments. Such complicates the Biblical simplicity and is profoundly unscriptural
and wrong. In a sermon on “The Millennium” the late A. G. Freed developed this line of
refutation with seven points as follows:
1. The second coming of Christ and the glorification of the saints will be at the same
time (Col. 3:4).
2. The second coming of Christ and the gathering of the saints will be at the same
time (Mk. 13:26,27).
3. The second coming of Christ and the changing of our vile body will be at the same
time (Phil. 3:20,21; 1 Cor. 15:51,52).
4. The second coming of Christ and the resurrection of all, both good and evil, will
be at the same time (Jn. 5:28,29; 1 Thes. 4:14-18).
5. The second coming of Christ and the judgment will be at the same time (Mt.
25:31-34).
6. The second coming of Christ and the punishment of the wicked will be at the same
time (2 Thes. 1:7-9).
7. The second coming of Christ and the destruction of the world will be at the same
time (2 Pet. 3:4-10) (Sermons 120-121).
The scriptures clearly teach that the second coming of Christ, the gathering of the
saints, the resurrection of both good and evil, the change of our vile body, the glorification
of the saints, the judgment of all, the punishment of the wicked and the reward of the
righteous, and the destruction of the world are closely related in order of time.
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Thus, clear New Testament teaching concerning the last things logically excludes the
millennial kingdom as Shank proclaims it. Whatever the thousand years in Revelation chapter
20 is, it does not involve a reign of Christ on earth between his second coming and eternity!
The Christian age is “the last days” (Heb. 1:1). The New Testament speaks consistently, not
of three ages, but only of two—this one and the one to come (eternity). Christ’s return will
signalize, not the beginning of his kingdom, but its earthly end in the termination of human
history (1 Cor. 15:24). The present age of grace is final; when it ends, the earth will be totally
destroyed.
Premillennialism is wrong! Ancient though it may be, like the views of the first
century Judaizers it is still deadly erroneous. Comprehensive and sophisticated though it may
appear, dispensational premillennialism is still a misguided combination of impossible
literalism, groundless assumptions and weirdly ingenious imagination.
THE UNSHAKABLE KINGDOM
Hebrews 12:28 declares that Christians receive “a kingdom that cannot be shaken.”
In the Bible this kingdom is envisioned, announced, described, said to be established, and
seen to be victorious. Briefly tracing this important theme through scriptures might be
helpful.
Kingdom Envisioned—The unshakable kingdom is the kingdom the prophets
envisioned. Two of the most significant prophetic visions of the Messianic kingdom are the
parallel ones contained in Daniel 2 and 7. The first of these was originally granted not to a
prophet, but to a pagan king, the great Babylonian monarch, Nebuchadnezzar. Interpreted by
Daniel, this dream involved a colossal image having four parts which represented four
successive world powers beginning with the Neo- Babylonian empire represented by
Nebuchadnezzar himself, “the head of gold” (Dan. 2:38). Conservative interpreters agree that
the other three parts of the image represented the Medo-Persian, the Greek, and the Roman
Empires. Concerning the fourth empire the text states: “And in the days of those kings shall
the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed, nor shall the sovereignty
thereof be left to another people; but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms,
and it shall stand forever.” (Dan. 2:44). [All scripture references are from the American
Standard Version unless otherwise noted.] Thus the dream points to the Roman era as the
time of the establishment of the promised kingdom. With this scenario agrees Daniel’s vision
of the four beasts in chapter 7, although this latter vision stresses also that conflict would
accompany the emergence and growth of the Messiah’s kingdom.
Admitting that these chapters point to the Romans, Premillennialists seek to find what
amounts to a fifth world power in a yet future revived Roman Empire represented in Daniel
by “toes” (chapter 2) or “horns” (chapter 7). Such groundless speculation distorts both visions
by making their otherwise compact imagery quite grotesque, either by imagining extended
time gaps of thousands of years or by assuming the “toes” or “horns” to represent a far longer
period that that involved in all the rest of the body of the respective visions. This will not do.
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The prophets envisioned a Messianic kingdom to be realized in the ancient Roman era, the
age that witnessed the origin of the New Testament.
Kingdom Announced—The unshakable kingdom is the kingdom Jesus and John
announced. Both John (Mt. 3:1) and Jesus (Mt. 4:17) called upon people to “repent for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand.” Jesus later proclaimed the coming of the kingdom within the
lifetime of his hearers (Mk. 9:1) and promised his apostles “the keys of the kingdom” (Mt.
16:19). Such announcements harmonize perfectly with the visions in Daniel as interpreted
above. On the other hand, if Daniel’s visions applied to a time yet future to our own, as
Premillennialists insist why did Jesus and John announce the coming kingdom? Millennial
speculation faces an impossible quandary at this point.
Kingdom Described—The unshakable kingdom is the kingdom Jesus described. In
various ways during his ministry Jesus identified his kingdom as spiritual in nature. A new
birth, not Jewish descent, is the requirement for entrance into his kingdom (Jn. 3:1-8). Jesus’
many parables of the kingdom find their fulfillment in a spiritual kingdom, the church
(Compare Mt. 13:1-52; 18:21-35). Most notably Jesus before Pilate clearly defined his
kingdom as spiritual in John 18:36: Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world: if my
kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to
the Jews but now is my kingdom not from hence.”
Thus, the Gospels consistently depict the Lord’s kingdom as spiritual. Equally
impressive in the Gospel accounts is the total absence of any evidence of an earthly kingdom
offer. Jesus never once offered Israel an earthly kingdom, nor did he ever change his message
in this regard. Never once did he instruct disciples as to an earthly kingdom. Never once did
Jesus quote an Old Testament passage and apply it to an earthly kingdom. Never once did
Jesus teach that Israel, after rejecting him, still has a glorious national future after his second
coming. Such millennial speculation is not Biblical: the kingdom Christ described is his
spiritual kingdom, the church.
Kingdom Established—the unshakable kingdom is the kingdom established in Acts.
Acts 2 records the birthday of the church and presents this embodiment of the Lord’s people
as the inauguration of Christ’s reign on David’s throne. Speaking of David’s witness to the
coming Christ Peter said in Acts 2:30-36:
Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that
of the fruit of his loins he would set one upon his throne; he foreseeing this spake of the
resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he left unto Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.
This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we all are witnesses. Being therefore by the right hand
of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he hath
poured forth this which ye see and hear. For David ascended not into the heavens: but he
saith himself, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, Till I make thine
enemies the footstool of thy feet. Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly that
God hath make him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.
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The kingdom of God is the rule of God in the hearts of men. Jesus is Lord and reigns
today on David’s throne at God’s right hand.
Kingdom Victorious—the unshakable kingdom is the victorious kingdom. For all its
unusual imagery, the Book of Revelation has one simple theme—the victory of God and his
people. “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ,
and he shall reign for ever and ever” (Rev. 11:15). Because this is so the Lord can assure,
“Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). Though it may
often appear otherwise to men on earth, the kingdom of Christ is destined to win. As
Christians, we are citizens in this spiritual kingdom, the church, and ought to be grateful for
receiving this wonderful spiritual kingdom that cannot be shaken.
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “At His Coming” - 1998, Clyde Woods: The
Premillennial View of Christ And His Kingdom. Pages 390-396.
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THE CHURCH IN THE ETERNAL PURPOSE
(Avon Malone)
George G. Findlay has well expressed the concept of the eternal purpose in Ephesians
by picturing Paul
“standing with the men of his day, the newborn community of the sons of God in
Christ, midway between ages past and to come, looks backward to the source of man’s
salvation when it lay a silent thought in the mind of God and forward to the hour when
it shall have accomplished its promise and achieved our redemption.”
We are concerned in this lecture with what Paul called “the Eternal Purpose” (Eph.
3:1 I). What majesty and mystery surrounds this great concept! What far-reaching and
eternally significant implications inhere in the words “the eternal purpose.” In the silent
counsels of eternity past, the infinite mind of God formed and framed a purpose a great
scheme of redemption to the glory of God and for the salvation of man.
I. A PREMILLENIAL POSITION
Despite the biblical doctrine of the eternal purpose embracing, as it does, all facets of
God’s provision for human redemption, there are those who would divorce the church
entirely from God’s eternal purpose.
The following quotations should serve to define and clarify the view which sees the
church as an afterthought in God’s dealing with man:
“From the moment, Christ bowed His head and yielded up His spirit to the Father. all
the glories of the kingdoms spoken of by the O. T. seers and prophets have been held
in abeyance . . . The prophetic clock stopped at Calvary. Not one tick has been heard
since.”
“He, Jesus, would have set up the kingdom but they, the Jews, rejected and crucified
him. The kingdom did come nigh when Christ came and had they received him, it
would have been manifested but now it is in abeyance.”
“In its doctrine of the Church Dispensationalism holds that the Jewish rejection of the
Kingdom calls Jesus to postpone the kingdom until the Second Advent and to
establish the Church as an interlude between the two advents and that the Church was
in no sense a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy and promises but something
entirely new. . .”
According to this dispensational view, “. . . the Church is a mere parenthesis, an

afterthought in God’s program of redemption, a valley invisible to Old Testament
prophets . . . in dealing with the church, history has left the main highway and is
making a detour; and God ignores the flight of time until he deals again with the Jews.
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Israel is like a scheduled train that has been put on a side track temporarily but will
be put on the main track, the main line again, as soon as the unscheduled Gentile-
Special has passed through.”
According to the position described above, the church does not fulfill the kingdom
prophecies of the Old Testament. Millenarians must admit that “If the church fulfills the Old
Testament promises to Israel of a righteous kingdom on earth, the amillenarians are right."
According to this view, Christ came to establish an earthly kingdom. This kingdom was
“nigh” in the days of Jesus and John, but the plan was thwarted by the Jewish rejection of
Jesus. Because of this rejection, the church came into being. Therefore, most millenarians
see “the church age” as a parenthesis.8 The church itself is associated with an interlude and
is seen as altogether distinct from and secondary to the kingdom which is yet future. Though
there are variations among the shades and grades of premillennialism, virtually all millennial
schemes tend to disparage the church and many divorce it entirely from the Old Testament
kingdom prophecies and the eternal purpose of God.
II. THE ETERNAL PURPOSE
In examining the position just presented, and in the honest quest for positive truth as
it pertains to the church in God’s plan, one basic beginning question must be decisively
answered: did God really have a purpose, a plan, a scheme of redemption, from before the
foundation of the world? Is it true that God had a purpose from before the creation that can
be called the eternal purpose which provides for man‘s salvation? Some read, “It repented
God that he made man” (Gen.6) and conclude from that that God, in some sense, was caught
napping. Some seem to think that God’s dealing with man involved one long series of
“audibles” called at the “line of scrimmage.” Not so at all. Hear Peter on Pentecost: “Him
being delivered up by the determinate council and foreknowledge of God, you by the hand
of lawless men did crucify and slay” (Acts 2:33). Do not get the idea that God was surprised
about the cross. Don’t get the idea that the cross was an accident or an afterthought. Peter
preaches on Pentecost that while the Jews were responsible, morally accountable for their
part in His death, at the same time, that death was a predetermined death altogether in accord
with God’s determinate council and foreknowledge. Hear Peter again: “Knowing that ye were
redeemed, not with corruptible things with silver and gold frOm your vain manner of life . .
. but with precious blood as of the lamb without blemish without spot even the blood ofChrist
who was foreknown indeed, from before the foundation of the world, but was manifested at
the end of the time for your sake” (1 Pet. 1:18-20). Notice other scriptures conveying the
same vital truth:
“even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world… (Ephesians 1:4).
“And we know that to them that love God all things work together for good, even to
them that are called according to his purpose. For whom he foreknew, he also
foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son, that he might be the firstborn
among many brethren: and whom he foreordained, them he also called: and whom he
called, them he also justified: and whom he justified. them he also glorified” (Romans
8:28-30).
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“…God chose you from the beginning unto salvation in sanctification of the Spirit
and belief of the truth” (II Thessalonians 2:13).
“Who saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
times eternal, . . .” (II Timothy 1:9).
One of the greatest passages picturing the eternal purpose in all its vastness and beauty
is Ephesians 1:3-14. R. C. Bell called this passage “the first chapter of Paul’s spiritual
Genesis.”9 Here is Paul’s panoramic view of the eternal purpose:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with
every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ: even as he chose us in him
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before
him in love: having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto
himself according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his
grace which he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved: in whom we have our
redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the
riches of his grace which he made to abound toward us. in all wisdom and prudence,
making known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which
he purposed in him unto a dispensation of the fullness of the times, to sum up all
things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things upon the earth; in him, I say,
in whom also we were made a heritage, having been foreordained according to the
purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his will; to the end that we
should be unto the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ; in whom
ye also, having heard the word of truth, the gospel of salvation in whom, having also
believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our
inheritance, unto the redemption of God’s own possession, unto the praise of his
glory” (Eph. 13.14).
In this great passage, we see God the Father as the architect and fountainhead of all
spiritual blessings (verses 3-6); Jesus Christ, the God-man, is seen as the summing up of
God’s purpose and the channel of His blessings (verse 7-12); and, the Holy Spirit is presented
as the earnest of our inheritance (verses 13-14).
“Purpose” may well be the key word and concept in the moving praise anthem of 1:3-
14. Appearing as a verb in 1:9 and as a noun in 1:1 1, “purpose” serves to summarize the
divine initiative and action in this section, and, in a sense, in the whole letter.
Now, notice the remarkably extensive, all-encompassing scope of God’s great eternal
purpose. The purpose embraces time and eternity; the activity of Father, Son, and Spirit; the
reconciliation of Jew and Gentile; the church as active and engaged in conflict on earth and
in the heavenlies.
Having its inception in the vast reaches of eternity past, the purpose works its way
unerringly through the dimension we know as time, and reaches its consummation in “the
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ages to come” (2:7). Past purpose, present working and future consummation are all seen in
Paul’s great doxology (I 23-14) and in his development of the doctrine of the purpose.
The Bible clearly affirms that the eternal purpose was formed “before the foundation
of the world.” God is viewed as the great planner and spiritual architect who purposed and
planned our salvation in Christ. He drew up the spiritual blueprint for man’s salvation before
the creation in eternity past. This view is made abundantly clear in scripture.
On the basis of the passages already noted, we draw the same conclusion as expressed
by Robert Milligan in his monumental work THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION:
“. . . it is evident that the Scheme of Redemption was no afterthought on the part of

Jehovah. It was perfect and complete in the Divine mind before the foundation of the
world or the beginning of the ages.
However, let it be clearly understood that Paul's doctrine of divine purpose and
foreordination is not a deterministic, Calvinistic dogma which would have God arbitrarily
fixing the fate of the individual and leaving him no choice in the matter. The Bible is not
saying that God predetermined the salvation of Mr. A, and He predetermined the damnation
of Mr. B. The Bible is rather saying that God from before the foundation of the world, planned
a plan, purposed a purpose, schemed a scheme that comes to culmination in Christ (Eph. 1:9,
10). It was the death of Christ that was according to the determinate council of God; the
precious blood that was foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world (Acts 2:23; 1
Pet. 1:19, 20). God’s plan to save man in Christ necessarily implies a people a saved people
~ God’s elect. Through the cross God redeems His people. The divine activity according to
the purpose and through the cross does not invalidate the will of man and leave him no choice.
God rather had a plan from before the foundation and He leaves the individual that is made
free to choose the Christ and His sacrifice or to reject the offer of pardon. God desires the
salvation of all (11 Pet. 3:9; 1 Tim. 2:4; Titus 2:1 1). Jesus died for all (Heb. 2:9), but all will
not be saved (Matt. 7:13, 14). The individual can elect to be of the elect. He can choose to be
of the chosen. 1 could illustrate it like this. The courses offered at Harding College in any
semester are preplanned. The courses in the Bible Department are planned a year ahead. The
school semester is preplanned; “foreordained” or “appointed before." Whether a student
avails himself of whatever academic benefits and blessings may be in a particular semester's
work, is completely up to the individual.
III. THE CHURCH IN THE ETERNAL PURPOSE
The fact that God had a purpose formed from eternity to provide redemption from
ruin through Christ, is undeniable (1 Pet. 1:18-20). That this plan does not make of man “a
dutiful actor following a stereotyped script” is equally apparent (Acts 2:23, 38, 40; 11 Pet.
3:9). There is, at this point, a crucial question that must be raised: ls the church really a part
of God’s purpose?
From the inspired pen of Paul comes the unmistakable, unequivocal answer:
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“Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given, to preach
unto the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and to make all men see what is
the dispensation of the mystery which for ages hath been hid in God who created all
things: to the intent that now unto the principalities and the powers in the heaven1y
places might be made known through the church the manifold wisdom of God
according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom
we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him” (Eph. 3 :8-12).
It is very apparent then that the church is not an afterthought, an emergency measure
to bridge a gap in time. The church did not come into existence as an “audible” is called in a
football game because the “game plan” had broken down. Rather, the church of Jesus comes
forth as the expression of the ageless purpose formed by God before the foundation of the
world.
Clearly, the church is “according to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ
Jesus our Lord.” The Scofield Reference Bible inserts a heading at the start of Ephesians
chapter three indicating that the church is a kind of “mystery parenthesis.” In reality, the
mystery is God’s saving plan which makes provision for the Gentiles and provides them
equality in Christ with the Jews (Eph. 3:3-6; cf. Col. 1:25-28; Rom. 16: 25-27). Far from
being a “parenthesis” of any kind, the church lies right at the heart of the timeless, ageless
purpose of God. It is central and integral to the eternal purpose. The theme of Ephesians
might be well-stated as “the church in the eternal purpose”. The doctrinal section of
Ephesians pictures the church as decreed from eternity and destined for eternity. R.C. Bell
gave impressive expression to this truth when he wrote, “Everything pertaining to the church
lay in the mind of God ‘before the foundation of the world’ as an unborn forest lies in the
cup of an acorn. Nothing was left to chance.”
Lying back of the great Messianic expectancy of the Old Testament, is the eternal
purpose. Early in His dealing with man, God began to express in the form of promise and
prophecy the purpose which He purposed in Himself before the world began. The first
reference to the Divine plan for man’s redemption came almost in time’s dawn.
When the first pair in paradise violated the prohibition of Gen. 2:16, 17, the
relationship with God was ruptured. Man, separated from his maker by sin, heard the
declaration: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman: and between thy seed and
her seed and he shall bruise thy head and thou shalt bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:15). God is
speaking here to the serpent (cf. I] Cor. 11:3, 14) of the saving seed of woman who would
bruise the head or power of the evil one. Centuries later the Hebrew writer could speak “after
the fact” of the crushing blow struck by the Christ: “Since then the children are sharers in
flesh and blood, he also himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death he
might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb. 2:14). The
fulfilling of the promise of Gen. 3:15 involved a particular line of descent. After the flood.
as the world was going into idolatry, God Chose Abraham as that one through whom the
promised seed should come. The Abrahamic promise found in Gen. 12:1-7 contains, in the
embryo, two great families; a family of flesh, and a family of faith. God promised a blessing
to his seed and a blessing through his seed. Here God gives the nation - land promise, which
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involves the giving of a great name; a great nation; the blessing and the curse; and, the
promise of the land (Gen. 12:1-7; 15:18). Towering majestically above even this significant
nation-land promise is what has been called the “spiritual promise.” This promise anticipates
the Messiah and the universal blessings that are to flow through Him to all mankind. This
great promise is seen clearly in the combined language of Gen. 12:3 and 22:18: “In thee and
thy seed shall all families and all nations of the earth be blessed.” Whereas the nation-land
promise was physical, national and temporal, this latter promise ~ is spiritual, universal and
eternal in its implication. “Now to Abraham were the promises spoken and to his seed. He
saith not, and to seeds, as of many, but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ” (Gal.
3:16).
This great spiritual promise reflects the eternal purpose back of it. God will work out
His purpose to save Jew and Gentile in Christ through Abraham and his seed. This great
promise is confirmed to Isaac (Genesis, chapter 26) and to Jacob (Genesis 28:10-14). As
Jacob is dying, while pronouncing a blessing on his sons and their posterity, he makes a
strikingly significant statement: “The septre shall not depart from Judah nor the ruler’s staff
from between his feet until Shiloh come and unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be”
(Gen. 49:10). Our Lord is to be the Lion of the tribe of Judah. Thus, God is seen in Old
Testament times as working out His purpose through Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Judah.
Moving, rapidly through the pages of the past there is seen standing squarely on this
line of descent the greatest king to lead God’s ancient people. David figures prominently in
the working out of the eternal purpose. In 11 Sam. 7:11-14 God, through His prophet, makes
a promise to David of far-reaching implication:
“. . . Moreover, Jehovah telleth thee that Jehovah will make thee a house. When thy
days are fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after
thee, that shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall
build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”
Through David and his posterity, the purpose of God is to be worked out as Christ
will occupy the throne of David and reign over His spiritual kingdom. The prophecy of II
Sam 7 finds fulfillment in our Lord, the seed of David according to the flesh (Romans 1 :3).
As the purpose is traced through the pages of the Old Testament, Isaiah presents the
coming Messiah as one who will be born of a virgin (Isa. 7:14; Matt. 1:23); who will shoulder
the government and whose name will be called “Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isa. 9:6, 7). The Messiah of Isaiah’s prophecy would
have “the key of David” (Isa. 22), and he would reign over his peaceable kingdom with equity
and might (Isa. 11:1-11). All of the promises and predictive statements concerning the
Messiah came to complete fulfillment in one historical person Jesus of Nazareth. In
announcing the coming birth of Jesus to Mary, the angel said of this Jesus that “He shall be
great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the
throne of his father David; and he shall reign over the house of Jacob forever; and of his
kingdom there shall be no end” (Luke 1:32, 33). In Acts 2 Peter affirmed that Jesus was raised
to sit on David’s throne:
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“Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is
both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day. Therefore, being a
prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his
loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; he seeing
this before spake of the resurrection of Christ” (Acts 2:29ff).
Clearly the prophecy concerning David’s throne from 11 Sam. 7, and other such
prophecies, are fulfilled in Jesus. The eternal purpose comes to fruition in Jesus and his
church. Christ is preeminent in God’s purpose. God purposed to “sum up all things in Him”
(Eph. 1:9, 10), and the church is described as His fullness “the fullness of him that filleth all
in all” (Eph. 1:22, 23).
Bell, in commenting on Galatians the third chapter, says that Moses’ law was a
“parenthetical, provisional” arrangement.12 This succinctly suggests the place of the Mosaic
economy. It was parenthetical to the working out of Grid’s plan for the blessing of all nations
through Christ, Abraham’s seed (Gen. 12:3; 22: 18; Gal. 3:16-19,26-29). The great
Abrahamic covenant for all nations is realized in Christ and the church. It is the law, not the
church, that constitutes a kind of parenthesis. The church shines splendidly in an anticipatory
sense in the great Messianic prophecies of the Old Testament (eg. Isa. 1121-11; cf. Rom.
15:8-12), but it is on the pages of the New Testament that this great, preplanned body breaks
forth as the culmination of the divine, eternal purpose. in anticipation, it can be seen shining
through the magnificent predictive statements of the Old Testament concerning the Messiah
and His people. In the consummation of God’s purposeful activity, it stands resplendent in
its reflected beauty a great present reality for man’s salvation and to God’s glory (Col. 1:13;
I Pet. 2:9; Eph. 1:6, 7, 12, 14;3:20).
CONCLUSION
Paul concludes a great prayer-passage in impressive doxology: “Now unto him that
is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that
worketh in us, . . .” (Eph. 3:20). Take note that Paul does not assert that glory is to be ascribed
to Him in the church only through the “church age” at the termination of which He will no
longer be glorified in the church. Paul does not affirm that the dawn of a millennial kingdom
on earth will bring a cessation of glory to God in the church. He rather exclaims, as he crowns
the doctrinal crescendo of the eloquent Ephesian letter, “unto him be the glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for ever and ever. Amen.” No wonder God’s child
today can sing with great intensity and conviction,
“1 love thy kingdom, Lord, The house of thine above. The church our blest redeemer
saved with his own precious blood.”
“Premillennialism True or False?” Avon Malone: The Church in the Eternal Purpose. Pages
150-157.
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THE CHURCH OF CHRIST – ETERNALLY PURPOSED BY ALMIGHTY GOD
(Robert Taylor, Jr.)
My assigned topic is "The Church of Christ-Eternally Purposed by Almighty God."

The chief text for the unfolding of this intensely interesting theme lies in Ephesians 3: 10-11.
There the inspired scribe writes, "To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in
heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God, according to
the eternal purpose he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: ... " It is entirely appropriate that
our text be taken from this great Pauline product. The Ephesian letter is his great "church
epistle." This is meant as no reflection upon his other writings-; -for he mentions the church
by name in all his letters except Second Timothy and Titus. He presents a great wealth of
material on the church in the letter sent to Ephesian saints. It is the conviction of this speaker
that one ignorant of the Ephesian epistle is sadly deficient in his understanding of the New
Testament church regardless of his grasp of other passages dealing with the body of Christ.
A clear understanding of this great masterpiece about Christ's church would remove many of
the misconceptions held both by brethren and non-Christians. It is quite appropriate in the
second place that our text be taken from the first three chapters of this epistle. Without doing
any injury to Paul's design, it can be suggested that the very proposition the imprisoned
apostle sought to unfold and support in the first half of the book is vividly declared in the
very text.
Beings in heaven and people on earth were to view the church as the exhibition of
God's manifold wisdom. Even the creation and sustaining of our immense universe pale into
insignificance as an exhibition of God's many-sided facets of heavenly wisdom when made
comparable to the church and what it does to picture Jehovah's prudent planning. The Jew of
Paul's day had expected a temporal kingdom with an earthly potentate and the dispensing of
secular security and earthly enticements. Advocates of the premillennial theory still hold the
same erroneous position today. They cannot close their eyes to an earthly throne in literal
Jerusalem with a fleshly Messiah ruling in regal splendor therefrom for a literal thousand
years. No such institution as ancient Jews desired or modern premillennialists envision
occupied God's eternal purposing and planning. There was a kingdom in his eternal purposing
but not the one fleshly Israel sought in the first century nor the one currently anticipated by
earth-bound premillennialism. The institution that God planned for and purposed even before
Eden was created or Adam had transgressed was the church of our blessed Lord. Paul spoke
of the church in Ephesians 3: 10 and identified it as that which constituted the eternal purpose
which the Almighty purposed in Christ Jesus, in verse 11.
Hence all this current talk in premillennial circles about how the Old Testament
prophecies failed of fulfillment during Christ's first coming, the postponement theory and the
quickly devised church age as an emergency substitute during the interim period is
blasphemy of the most glaring kind. The propagation by its avid advocates and the tacit
toleration among the fearful and spineless cannot help but be deeply injurious to the blessed
cause of Prince Emmanuel. People know but little of the gospel system or the serious errors
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underlying the premillennial persuasion who classify it a harmless doctrine. The gospel of
God's Son and this premillennial error are poles apart. There is no more compatibility
between the two systems than between darkness and light, Christ and Belial. or righteousness
and unrighteousness.
This verse has frequently been employed to suggest that God intends the church to
make known his wisdom through teaching. That other scriptures inculcate this divine mission
as a sealed and binding obligation upon the church cannot be denied. The church is to preach
the gospel. (Mark 16: 15; Matt. 28: 19.) The church in Jerusalem filled the city with the
doctrine of Christ. (Act1~ 5: 28.) The. Jerusalem church, when dispersed. went everywhere
preaching the gospel. (Acts 8: 4.) This mother church sent one of its own to aid the cause in
distant Antioch of Syria. (Acts 11: 22-26.) The church at Antioch under directions of the
Holy Spirit Rent Paul and Barnabas to evangelize among the Gentiles on what we call the
first missionary journey. (Acts 13: 1-4.) The church at Philippi aided Paul as he preached the
gospel in regions beyond them. (Phil. 4: 14-16.) The church is the pillar and ground of the
truth. (1 Tim. 3:15.) Clearly it is the mission of God's church to dispense the wisdom of his
will and the absolute necessity of its acceptation by the ruined and wrecked Soil:'! of Adam's
perishing race.
However, the writer is under the persuasion that Paul is establishing the great truth in
this verse that, Jehovah intends for the divinely devised and heavenly revealed church of his
beloved Son to serve as an exhibition of the many facets of his greatest wisdom. The church
is on spiritual display in order that heavenly beings and earthly person can witness God's
wisdom at its very best. Principalities and powers in heavenly places would perhaps refer to
God's created beings in heaven. That the Almighty did not restrict this manifestation of his
superior wisdom to heavenly creatures alone is seen in the fact that he prompted Paul to write
this verse for humanity. Ephesians 3:10 was not written for angels to read but for humanity's
perusal and profit. According to 1 Peter 1: 10-12 prophets of the Old Testament and angels
in heaven intensely inquired, sincerely searched, and diligently desired to look into the
scheme of human redemption as heavenly grate would ultimately un fold it in the church of
Jesus Christ.
Heavenly angels and inspired seers had but a faint picture of the great wisdom God
intended one day to unfold as the chief exhibit of his great wisdom. When the Lord's church
became an established reality on that memorable Pentecost, God's creatures in heaven and
men upon earth observed the greatest exhibition of divine wisdom the world has ever
witnessed. The Lord made the earth by wisdom (Prov. 3: 19), but the building of the church
displays a wisdom that greatly transcends creative wisdom at the beginning. Great wisdom
was displayed in the giving of the Decalogue on shaking Sinai. but Pentecost is of much
higher eminence than Mt. Horeb. Are you searching for the display of God's wisdom? Look
no further than the church, for here is the very pinnacle of heavenly wisdom manifested upon
earth. The church exhibits not just a single facet of God's wisdom but the many-sided aspects
of this wisdom. Just as a beautiful building eloquently exhibits the talents of its architect, and
the building skill of those who erected it, so the church marvelously manifests the wisdom
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of its Divine Architect and the skill of the Messianic Builder. 1 n what \\lays does the church
exhibit God's wisdom?
THE CHURCH FROM PURPOSE TO PERFECTION
EXHIBITS GOD’S WISDOM
For many years gospel preachers have proclaimed with telling force the five P's of
the church. The church has existed in purpose, promise, prophecy, preparation and in
resplendent perfection from Pentecost onward. The opening three chapters of Ephesians
present the church as God's eternal purpose. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob received a promise
with physical implication; and another with spiritual provisions. The spiritual fulfillment of
this patriarchal promise to faithful Abraham is found in the church of our Lord. The seed
(Christ) of Abraham was to bless all nations but this would be through the church. The
process that permits one an entrance into the church likewise extend: to him the benefits of
that ancient promise of Genesis 12: 3. The Old Testament contains the precious promises and
priceless prophecies of that future kingdom (the church) the Lord would provide when the
fulness of time arrived.
The Messianic Seer spoke of the church when he wrote, "And it shall come to pass in
the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many
people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house
of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out
of Zion shall go forth the law. and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." (Isa. 2:2-3) Daniel,
Jehovah's greatly loved prophet of the Captivity, said to the troubled Nebuchadnezzar, "And
in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be
destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and
consume all these kingdoms. and it shall stand forever." (Dan. 2:44.)
John the Baptist was heaven's choice to prepare apostate Israel for the kingdom whose
time of establishment was drawing near. His stirring and courageous cry for a bankrupt
people to repent, confess sins, and be baptized began the period of preparing for the perfected
arrival of this heavenly kingdom. Jesus followed him and prepared additionally for the
coming kingdom. John, Jesus, and the apostles worked with fervent ardor and spiritual haste
to make ready a people who would respond favorably to the full gospel demands on
Pentecost. However, if the premillennial persuasion be true, they might as well have saved
their laborious efforts and preserved their consumed energies. for it was all to no avail.
According to this widespread error God's eternal purpose was thwarted by the Jewish
rejection of Jesus as Messiah, the promises and prophecies of the Old Testament became
colossal failures and all the diligent preparation of the Harbinger, the Christ, and his disciples
fruitlessly failed to bring about the kingdom's establishment in perfection on that Pentecost
morning. And this error is harmless? The Bible being so. God's purpose was not thwarted.
The prophecies and promises of Old Testament seers did not fail. The preparation period was
not wasted effort.
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The church or kingdom became God's long-awaited and wisely conceived institution
in which man would be saved. It began in Acts 2 just fifty-three days subsequent to Calvary.
fifty days after the triumphant resurrection and ten days after the amazing ascension from
historic Mt. Olivet. Look at the church in purpose, promise, prophecy, preparation and
resplendent perfection on Pentecost and one cannot help but see the exhibition of God's
manifold wisdom. Truly the church is the manifestation of God's wisdom.
THE NEW BIRTH EXHIBITS GOD'S WISDOM
The Master taught the inquiring Nicodemus that admission into God's kingdom WHS
by the new birth. "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see
the kingdom of God .... Verily. verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of
the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." (John 3: 3, 5.) Human wisdom would
never have chosen a birth of water and of the Spirit as the entrance requirements. This is
forcefully evidenced by the total deviation that present day denominationalism practices
toward the new birth. Denominationalism neither understands nor practices this new birth.
Men like Billy Graham will talk of the new birth in one moment, deny the reality of a present
kingdom in the next breath, and finally predicate salvation upon faith only, which is not the
new birth at all. He counsels people to be born again but has no kingdom for them to enter
when the birth is finalized! Graham understands neither the kingdom nor the new birth. And
yet some of our brethren consider him a gospel preacher!
In the new birth, there is a begetting and a bringing forth. Both water and the Holy
Spirit are involved. This process is begun, sustained, and completed when we hear the gospel
(Rom. 10: 17). believe in the deity of Jesus Christ (John 8: 21, 24), repent of past sins (Acts
17: 30), confess our faith in the Lord Jesus (Rom. 10: 9-10), and are baptized in water (Acts
10: 47- 48; Rom. 6: 4) for the remission of sins (Acts 2: 38). Human wisdom would never
have devised such entrance requirements. Denominationalism for the most part has nothing
but contempt for the full gospel plan of salvation. When gospel preachers proclaim the first
principles they are exhibiting the wisdom of God. Let us never disparage the sacred
proclamation of first principles. To despise such, as some presently do, is to despise divine
wisdom.
THE WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH EXHIBITS GOD'S WISDOM
Man, unaided by divine wisdom and guidance would never have chosen the kind of
worship inculcated by Christ in John 4: 23-24. "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the
true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to
worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in
truth." Herein Jesus presents the general framework of all acceptable worship. Worship must
be directed to the right object who is God. Worship must be sincere, from the heart. Worship
mm;t be guided wholly by truth. The majority of humanity has always been prone to worship
many objects and not God alone. (1 Cor. 8: 5; Acts 17: 16; Matt. 4: 10.) Man, for the most
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part, has always preferred his own choice of a worshipping pattern rather than bowing in
humble submission to the Biblical pattern.
Specifically, God has commanded singing (Eph. 5: 19; Col. 3: 16), praying (1 Thess.
5: 17; Col. 4: 2; Acts 2: 42), teaching or preaching (Acts 2: 42; 20: 7), the weekly observance
of the Lord’s supper on the first day of the week (Acts 20: 7; 1 Cor. 11: 23-34) and the weekly
contribution every Sunday (1 Cor. 16: 1-2). Look at the multitude of innovations man has
introduced into his worship. He is more interested in pleasing self than the Lord. We once
studied with a bright young college student who held religions affiliation in the Christian
Church. Touching the issue of mechanical music in the worship she freely acknowledged that
such a practice is without New Testament authority. She said. We use it because we like it."
At least her candor was rather unusual.
The very fact that but few religious people are willing to engage in the simple and
complete acts of Christian worship is deeply suggestive that this came from heavenly
wisdom-not human wisdom. Fervent engagement in New Testament worship by spiritually
minded Christians is a beautiful and striking exhibition of God's wisdom.
THB ORGANIZATION OF THE CHURCH

EXHIBITS GOD'S WISDOM
The writer is absolutely positive that the organization of the New Testament church
is not of human derivation. Were it of human origin it would have taken a completely
different type of organizational course. John had not slept the sweet sleep of the sainted dead
long until the first departure from truth occurred. It came in church government. The apostles
ordained a system of church government that called for a plurality of elders and deacons in
each local congregation. (1 Tim. 3: 1-13; Tit. 1: 5-11; Acts 14: 23.) Other scriptural terms
applied to the eldership were pastors, presbyters, overseers, bishops and shepherds. Elders
were to oversee and deacons were to serve. Each congregation was fully autonomous. But
men were not satisfied. Paul told the Ephesian elders that men from their own midst (the
eldership) would "arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them." (Acts
20: 30.) A modern-day look at the pyramid type of ruling machinery that controls Roman
Catholicism and the heavily ecclesiastical framework of Protestantism and one can easily
detect what type of church government most religions leaders fondly embrace and voluntarily
choose.
We were once asked about the type of church government we use among churches of
Christ. The querist was a recognized leader in his denomination. We explained about the
autonomy of local congregations, the total lack of ecclesiastical control, the plurality of elders
to oversee and of the deacons to serve in each local church. So, wedded was he to his own
ecclesiastical framework of governmental control that it never dawned on him that all the
time we 'were simply describing church government us it did exist in New Testament times.
He was so naive about Bible teaching on this fundamental facet of New Testament doctrine
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that he asked with skepticism ringing in his query, "Will it work?" Well, it worked in the first
century. It works well for the Lord's church today. We are gaining a large number of members
annually. This religious group is losing ground fast and is feverishly seeking merger with
other forms of fading Protestantism just to keep its head above the water. Truly the Lord's
wisdom is eloquently exhibited in the type of church government he prudently planned.
THE MISSION OF THE CHURCH EXHIBITS GOD'S WISDOM
The Bible teaches that the mission of the church is threefold, the church is to preach
the gospel to the lost (Mark 16: 15), edify the saved (Jude 20-21), and help those in need
(Gal. 6: 10). The church is obligated to help its own needy members and the needy among
non-believers also, the saint only dogma in church benevolence, like every other only "ism,"
is wrong.
When human wisdom is placed upon the throne in religious legislation there is usually
a sharp deviation from these approved works ordained by God Almighty, Invasion into the
political ranks, substitution of the social gospel for a soul saving gospel. and the wholesale
venture toward entertaining people rather than edifying them in godliness, have all been
fondly embraced by Roman Catholicism, Protestant denominational ism, and even segments
of our own brotherhood.
Divine wisdom receives one of its most beautiful manifestations when the focus of
our attention is directed to the work God has outlined for his church to pursue.
NEW TESTAMENT DESIGNATIONS EXHIBIT GOD'S WISDOM
Inspired penmen referred to this glorious institution as the church (Eph. 5: 25), the
body of Christ (1 Cor. 12: 27), church of God (1 Tim. 3: 15), church of the firstborn (Reb.
12: 23), kingdom of God (John 3: 5), kingdom of heaven (Matt. 13: 44-45), and churches of
Christ when several local congregations were under apostolic consideration (Rom, 16: 16).
The very fact that when men choose religious designations they usually by-pass these sacred
names for humanly coined appellations marks these Biblical designations as another
manifestation of God's wisdom, Individually God's people are Christians (Acts 11: 26; 26:
28; 1 Pet. 4: 16), brethren (Gal. 6: 1), children of God (Gal 3: 26), disciples (Acts 9: 1), Saints
(Rom. 1: 7) and form a royal and holy priesthood of believers (1 Pet. 2: 5, 9; Rev. 1: 6; 5:
10). Divine wisdom is exhibited in wearing these names.
Fallible human wisdom dictates the substitution of human names in preference to

these biblically approved designations. The Lord's church presents another facet of God's
wisdom by being right in name. How wearing a human religious designation could ever be
construed as constituting a mark of God's wisdom is indeed impossible to comprehend.
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CHRISTIAN LIVING EXHIBITS GOD'S WISDOM
The beatitudes give a vivid description of the character of kingdom citizens. (Matt. 5:
3-12.) Each Christian, both young and old, should seek to be "an example of the believers, in
word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." (1 Tim. 4: 12,) The great goal
is constantly before us of living in such fashion that we can "adorn the doctrine of God our
Savior in al1 things." (Tit. 2: 10.) Negative1y we are to deny "ungodliness and world1y lusts."
Positively we are to "live soberly, righteously, and god1y, in the present world." (Tit. 2: 12.)
Sober living is discharging all obligations toward self, Righteous deportment means living
right with our fellowmen. Godly living. means a full discharge of our responsibility to our
Maker. To our faith Peter counsels, us to add or supply virtue, knowledge, self-control,
patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and love. (2 Pet. 1: 5-7.)
Spiritual sufficiency herein is viewed as a heavenly guarantee against future

fruitlessness and ultimate apostasy. The abundant entrance into the kingdom of heavenly
glory await." those who major in life's primary vocation-living the Christian life, It is the
contention of the speaker that unaided man could never have envisioned the beauty of
Christian living. Christianity has been defined as the reproduction of Christ's life into that of
our own. When such is seen, it affords a striking exhibition of God's wisdom and a most
effective reply to infidelity. Unbelief is absolutely impotent in producing in a Voltaire, Paine,
or an Ingersoll the life of a Paul, Peter, John, Timothy, Campbell, McGarvey, Larimore,
Lipscomb, Hardeman, or our late and dearly beloved president-H. A. Dixon. In these men,
the beauty of Christian living was marvelously manifested for the eye of a watching world.
CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP Is AN EXHIBITION OF

GOD'S WISDOM
The Lord's church was not begun by human wisdom. If human wisdom had been on
the throne of legislative authority, there would have been established at least two churches in
the first century. One would have been for the Jew and the other for the Gentile. Human
wisdom would never have conceived of one church wherein both Jew and Gentile could
experience the beautiful harmony of Christian fellowship. Paul spoke of this very fellowship
and the mystery connected therewith in the context of Ephesians 3: 10-11. He desired that
the reading of this epistle would enable his Ephesian saints to "understand my knowledge in
the mystery of Christ .... " (Eph. 3:4.) That mystery was "That the Gentiles should be fellow
heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: ... " (Eph.
3: 6.) In Ephesians 3: 9 the writer says, "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of
the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all
things by Jesus Christ: ... " It was difficult for people in the first century to understand how
God intended for there to be fellowship for all believers in the one body. It is no less difficult
for some people to understand this mystery in the twentieth century though its revelation has
been a part of the divine record for over nineteen centuries.
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The Christian enjoys fellowship in this life with the Father, the Son, the apostles, and
fellow disciples. (1 John 1: 3; Acts 2: 42.) This fellowship consists of joint participation and
a spiritual sharing. It is heavenly in origin, pure in its offerings, uplifting in its design, and
grows sweeter as the years go by. This fellowship does not end at death. Paul looked forward
to a greater and more loveable fellowship with Christ beyond death than any he had
experienced prior to death. (Phil. 1: 21-23.) The beggar Lazarus received sympathy from
dogs before death but beyond he enjoyed the comfort of Abraham's bosom and partook of
the fellowship of those present in that realm of royal rest. (Luke 16: 19-31.) The heavenly
hereafter will reveal a fellowship of which that on earth has been but a dim foreshadowing.
Fellowship will be provided with the Father, Son, Spirit, and God's family in heaven, and the
redeemed from God's three great ages. Did human wisdom devise such? Absolutely not!
Fellowship in the church on earth and in the kingdom of glory is truly a marvelous
manifestation of God's wisdom. Fellowship in the "sweet now and now." to use an expression
of Brother Gus Nichols, is destined to blossom into the fuller and richer fellowship of the
"sweet by and by."
AN ANALYSIS OF EPHESIANS 3:11
"According to eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: ... " This
specific verse is one of the 155 verses which compose Paul’s great church epistle. It is a part
of the 66 verses in which Paul speaks of God's eternal purpose which he planned for the
church. (Eph. 1, 2, 3.) Specifically, this verse is a part of a duet of verses in which high and
holy tribute is paid to the church of Jesus Christ. It is the exhibition of God's wisdom. In it is
seen the greatest manifestation of heavenly wisdom observed by angels on high and men
upon earth. It constitutes the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus the Lord.
Before Jehovah spoke the universe into existence in Genesis 1: 1 the church was in
his mind. Before Eden became home to the first couple God already had purposed the church
of Jesus Christ, Before the promises were tendered to the faithful patriarch of Ur, God hold
already blueprinted the church in the counsels of his infinite mind. Before shaking Sinai
witnessed the giving of the Decalogue the church was already upon God's future agenda of
coming realities. Before any Levitical priest officiated at a Mosaic altar or any prophetic seer
opened his mouth with a clarion call for a nation to heed heaven's will, the church was
planned. Before any King lifted his arm of regal authority and swayed a scepter over God's
ancient people, the church was of top priority in God's gradual unfolding of his marvelous
scheme of human redemption. Before John's voice cried so valiantly in the Judean wilderness
and the Son of man became an itinerant teacher treading Judean hills, Samaritan valleys and
Galilean mountains, the eternally planned blueprints for the church had been made. All of
these previously mentioned incidents were but stepping stones toward Pentecost.
Some might think that the discovery of America by Columbus on October 12, 1492,
the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, and our landing an
American on the moon July 20, 1969, constitute the three greatest days in history. Concerning
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the last-named event, our President termed that week in of 1969 as the greatest week since
creation. In this he erred. It is this writer’s conviction is that the three greatest days since
creation were Calvary, the Resurrection Sunday, and Pentecost. Calvary and the glorious
resurrection had to precede Pentecost. The establishment of the church would have meant
nothing without an atoning Savior on Calvary. Calvary and Pentecost could only be bridged
by the Resurrection.
The church on Pentecost with a dead Redeemer still entombed in the Arimathaean
senator's Stone-hewn sepulcher would have been an impotent force in an unbelieving world.
A dying Lord on Calvary, a resurrected Redeemer and the perfected church on Pentecost
constitute the very purposing and planning which had occupied a prominent place in the
eternal counsels of the infinite Jehovah.
God's eternal purpose connects Christ and the church. It was not Christ alone nor the
church alone but Christ and the church. In no aspect of the church's development.
establishment, or continuation can the Christ be severed therefrom. The Lord's church today
cannot be separated from Christ. The church that began on Pentecost and continued on
through the first century could not be separated from its all-powerful protector and holy head.
The church in its preparation period could not be separated from the Christ and his
courageous Harbinger. The church in promise and prophecy in Old Testament Scripture
could never be separated from the mighty Messiah who would come to build and equip it
with perpetual powers of preservation from evil and sinister forces. Our text affirms that the
eternal purpose of the church was centered in Jesus Christ.
The Scriptures speak of Jesus as having been slain before the foundation of the world.
Peter says in 1 Peter 1:18-20, "Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with
corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from
your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot: Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in
these last times for you, ... " Calvary and Pentecost were not emergency happenings brought
about quickly by the unexpected rejection of obstinate Jews against the Galilean Prophet.
The cross and the church constituted God's eternal purposing and planning for the salvation
of humanity.
Since the church was in the eternal counsels of the infinite Jehovah the premillennial
persuasion is reduced to its rightful position of absolute absurdity. It is a damnable error that
reflects upon God, dethrones Jesus as reigning king now, makes the church an afterthought,
belittles the wisdom that produced it, makes it an emergency substitute -an interim filler, and
withholds salvation from us now. Is harmless the proper adjective to inject before this
dogma? An emphatic no is our instant rejoinder.
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EPHESIANS 3:10-11 - A BULWARK
AGAINST PREMILLENNIALISM
The premillennial heresy has been called a harmless doctrine. There is no such thing
as a harmless religious error. Those who would so designate it surely know but little about
this rank error or the Bible which so soundly condemns it along with all other Satanic "isms,"
Premillennialism is an insult to God. a dishonor to Christ, a reflection upon the accuracy of
the Spirit's inspired prophecies, blasphemy against the eternally purposed church of Jesus
Christ and ranks as outright materialism. It is totally void of spirituality. They claim that
Jesus came the first time to establish his temporal reign on earth. Though this is what
prompted him to come and constituted the scope of Old Testament Messianic prophecies
toward that very materialistic concept, according to them, he was totally unable to do what
he came to accomplish.
The Jews rejected him. Yet this was the very type of kingdom they desired. Due to
this Jewish rejection, the establishment of the kingdom had to be postponed. As a quick
afterthought, the Godhead hastily established an emergency substitute for the interim period-
the church. Hence, we are now in the church age according to their contention, the kingdom
is yet future they say, It will be brought into being when Jesus comes the second time. But
what will happen if Israel rejects him the second time? Will there have to be ushered in a
quickly arranged second interim period with another hastily erected institution to serve as a
second emergency substitute '! What would have happened if the type of kingdom this theory
currently envisions had been established at his first coming? Then when: would Calvary, the
resurrection, the ascension and the spiritual institution, the church, have come in '! It took
what they call prophetic failure to bring about the cross, the resurrection, ascension, and the
establishment of the church on Pentecost. If what they desire now had been established then,
then would have been no death, burial. resurrection, and ascension back to heaven for Jesus.
If what they desire no, had come then, there would have been no room for Calvary and
Pentecost, and we challenge any premillennialist on earth to deny it.
The truth of the matter is that the kingdom they envision for n literal reign of Christ
on earth for a full millennium is not the kingdom the prophets promised. the church the
prophet saw by inspiration, the reign of heaven that John, Jesus. the twelve, and the seventy
said was near nor that glorious institution that breathed its first breath of perfected reality on
that memorable Pentecost. Ephesians 3: 10-11 being so, the premillennial persuasion is false.
We have set forth the church as being the exhibition of God's wisdom. According to the title
of this lecture it was "eternally purposed by Almighty God." If the church is simply an
afterthought and an emergency substitute, then it is not a manifestation of God's wisdom.
Folly would be the chief picture it portrays if premillennialism be true, If the church first
entered God's mind when Jewish stubbornness rejected the Messianic claims of his Son, then
it was not eternally purposed by the Almighty. The issue is plain. Total incompatibility exists
between premillennialism and the truth of God's church. As for me and my house we will
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accept the church as being God's great exhibition of wisdom and as being truly "eternally
purposed by Almighty God."
In conclusion, we fully concur with Foy E. Wallace, Jr., who says the church is not a
pad of God's plan of salvation; it is the plan of salvation. (GOD'S PROPHETIC WORD, p.
365. Emphasis supplied.)
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectures, “The Church of Christ – Essential, Al Sufficient,

Indestructible, Perpetually Relevant” - 1971, Robert Taylor, Jr.: The Church of Christ –
Eternally Purposed By Almighty God. Pages 17-33.
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Error
ERROR
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IS THE KINGDOM THE CHURCH?
(Mike Oppenheimer)
The Kingdom is not the church! The Church and the Kingdom are not the same. There
are several distinctions between the church and the Kingdom. The terms “church” and
“kingdom” are never used interchangeably in Scripture. Of the 114 occurrences of the word
“church” (Gr. “Ekklesia”), it is never used with the Kingdom (ibid.). Ekklessia means the
assembly of saints, the people are the church.
While it is clear that the apostles preached the Kingdom of God (Acts 8:12; 19:8;
28:23), one cannot substitute the church for the Kingdom in those passages, which is what
they would have to do if the kingdom was the church. However, there is a relationship. The
church is made up of those who are born anew and submit to Christ’s rulership in their lives
and thereby accept the offer of His Kingdom.
2 Peter 1:10-11 “Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and
election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; 11 for so an entrance will be
supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ.” Here Peter explains that we still will enter this kingdom by growing in the
characteristics of faith.
Jesus taught the people to seek the kingdom of God first and all his righteousness -
We are to seek Christ, his nature and ways, He is our righteousness.
“kingdom” is the word is Basileia in Greek, which denotes “sovereignty, royal power,
and dominion. It further denotes the territory or people over whom a King rules.” (From
Vine’s Expository Dictionary, p. 344) Thus, “kingdom” is a designation both of power and
the form of government as well as, especially in the later writers, the territory and the rule -
the Kingship and the Kingdom. Hence, the basic meaning of kingdom involves three things
- a ruler, a people who are ruled, and a territory over which they are ruled. (Moody Handbook
of Theology p. 352)
We enter the spiritual kingdom through Christ by the new birth, a spiritual birth. The
Kingdom is God’s rule, which brings into subjection those held captive in the Kingdom of
Satan. Christ delivers them from darkness into light. But there is a literal future Kingdom to
come. There is a spiritual aspect to the Kingdom now, which is God's rule in the heart of
every believer. This is an invisible spiritual kingdom. Jesus explains in many places that the
kingdom will come to earth, when He comes back He will physically be present to rule, it
will one day be physical. And will affect everyone on earth, not just the church, or the saints.
It is a literal kingdom, a messianic rulership from Jesus that can ONLY commence from His
Second Coming. He will be physically present to rule from the land of Israel for 1,000 years
and the saints will co-reign with Him. This is the “true kingdom of God” on earth that we are
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to be patiently waiting for. The kingdom that He told us to pray to come. the literal kingdom
is eschatological - it comes at the end of the age. At this time, Christ will come with all of
His glory and set up His governmental rule over the earth. There is no literal kingdom without
a king being present.
Mark 9:1 is used to prove the Kingdom has already commenced, but a closer look at
the whole passage shows Christ revealing His glory to His closest disciples, showing what it
will be like in the future by Moses and Elijah appearing. Peter volunteers to build tabernacles
for them, making the mistake of believing that the Kingdom had permanently arrived. Jesus
corrects Peter and shows him that it is not the time for the Kingdom to be set up.
Luke 17:20-21, in this passage Jesus is stating that the Kingdom is within you
(meaning in there midst among you). It was the Pharisees that asked the question of when
the Kingdom would come. Surely Jesus is not saying the Kingdom is within them! He
Himself is the Kingdom, and wherever the King is present, there is the Kingdom. Jesus then
describes the future event of how quickly the Kingdom will come. It does not come with
observation, pointing to His second advent and judgment.
As far as a literal kingdom for today is concerned, Paul spoke of this Kingdom in a
future tense (1 Cor. 6:9; 15:50; Gal. 5:21; Eph. 5:5). 2 Peter 1:10-11 also speaks of the
Kingdom in a future tense.
Source: http://letusreason.org/Biblexp255.htm
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IS THE CHURCH THE KINGDOM?
Does the Church represent the full expression of God’s kingdom? Let’s consider in
detail the assertion of Amillennialists that the Church is the kingdom and there is no other
kingdom promised for the future, certainly not a Millennial kingdom when Jesus will reign
over all the earth from the throne of David in Jerusalem.
The Amillennialist argument is usually expressed as follows: “The Lord is not coming
back to establish a kingdom here on earth because the kingdom was established in the First
Century in the form of the Church, and that is the only kingdom that will ever exist on earth.”
I know this argument well because I grew up in a church that taught it. We were so
dogmatic about it that we refused to pray “The Lord’s Prayer” because it contained the
phrase, “Thy kingdom come on earth as it is in Heaven.” Our position was that the kingdom
had already come in the form of the Church, and therefore such a prayer was irrelevant, since
it had already been fulfilled.
This argument that “the Church is the kingdom, and therefore there is no future
kingdom” is the cornerstone argument of most Amillennialists. It is usually accompanied
with wild assertions that “Premillennialists degrade the importance of the Church,” or
“Premillennialists believe that Jesus failed in His mission to establish the kingdom.”
An Irrelevant Argument
All of this is really ridiculous, because the argument that the kingdom is the Church
completely misses the point of Premillennialism. I am a Premillennialist, and I do not deny
that the Church is the current manifestation of God’s kingdom upon the earth.
Let me say that again in a different way: I would agree that the Church is God’s
kingdom on the earth today. Despite all the propaganda to the contrary, there are many
Premillennialists who do not deny that Jesus is currently reigning in glory over His kingdom,
the Church. It is true that there are some Premillennialists, known as Dispensationalists, who
do make a distinction between the kingdom and the Church. But their viewpoint is not
representative of all Premillennialists.
Diversity among Premillennialists
The thing to be kept in mind here is that there are Premillennialists and there are
Premillennialists. In other words, Premillennialism is not a monolithic doctrine. All
Premillennialists believe that Jesus is coming back to this earth to establish a kingdom, but
beyond that basic belief, they differ widely.
Likewise, all Christians believe that Jesus is Lord, but beyond that basic belief, they
disagree on many things. To attack the validity of Premillennialism by asserting that
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Premillennialists are wrong because they believe the Church is not the kingdom is equivalent
to attacking the validity of Christianity by asserting that Christians are wrong because they
believe in the infallibility of the Pope!
I am a Christian, but I do not believe in the infallibility of the Pope. I am a

Premillennialist, but I do not believe in the doctrine that the Church and the kingdom are
distinctive entities. But sometimes there is just no way to win this point.
I say this because when I labor mightily to stress that all Premillennialists do not
believe the same things, I am often confronted with the counter-argument that the
disagreement which exists among Premillennialists is proof positive that Premillennialism is
wrong!
The fallacy of this kind of thinking can be illustrated decisively by pointing out that
the same argument could be applied to Christianity as a whole — that is, Christianity is
invalid because Christians disagree! This, of course, is sheer nonsense.
It should be kept in mind, too, that Amillennialists disagree strongly with each other.
Some spiritualize the kingdom completely while others materialize it in the Church. Some
deny that there will ever be a Millennium of any kind; others argue we have been in a spiritual
Millennium ever since the Cross. Some take the position that the book of Revelation was
fulfilled in the First Century in the pouring out of God’s wrath on the Jews. Others assert that
the book is a prophecy about the struggle between the Church and the Roman Empire.
Others argue that the book is a prophecy about the battle between Catholics and
Protestants. And still others idealize the book to the point of contending that it represents
nothing except the ongoing conflict between the forces of good and evil. There are even
Amillennialists who believe that our eternal abode will be a new earth, whereas most would
hotly deny this, arguing instead that we will spend eternity in an ethereal spirit world.
The Amillennial Contention
There are four basic arguments that Amillennialists use to justify their contention that the
kingdom was established in the First Century in the form of the Church and that the Church
is the only kingdom which Christ will ever have on this earth:
1. They point to passages like Acts 2:29-31 to establish the fact that Jesus is currently
reigning.
2. They refer to scriptures like Matthew 10:7 to illustrate that Jesus taught the kingdom
was “near” or “at hand.”
3. They use Matthew 16:18-19 to prove that Jesus used the words “church” and
“kingdom” interchangeably.
4. They utilize scriptures like Hebrews 12:28 and Revelation 1:9 to emphasize that the
kingdom is a present reality.
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The Diversity of the Kingdom Concept
All I can say in response to these scriptural references is “Amen.” I agree that they
prove the Church is the current manifestation of God’s kingdom in the world. But to say that
the kingdom is the Church is not the same as saying that the kingdom is only the Church.
The Scriptures clearly teach that the Church is the kingdom. They do not teach that the
kingdom is only the Church. Consider these references to the kingdom in scripture:
1. The kingdom is identified with the creation itself, for God is sovereign over the
creation. See Psalm 93:1-2 and 1 Chronicles 29:11.
2. The kingdom is expressed in the nation of Israel. See Exodus 19:6 and 1 Samuel 8:7.
3. The kingdom is equated with the Church. See Colossians 1:13 and Revelation 1:9.
4. The kingdom is viewed as something more than the Church, yet to come in the future.
See Matthew 8:11, Luke 22:28-30, Acts 14:22, 1 Corinthians 6:9, and 2 Peter 1:11.
5. The kingdom is yet future, to take the form of a reign of Christ and His saints upon
the earth. See Daniel 7:18,27, 2 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 3:21, and Revelation 20:6.
6. The kingdom is yet future, to take the form ultimately of a reign of God over the
redeemed upon a new earth. See 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 and Revelation 21:1-4.
The Unity of the Kingdom Concept
I believe these scriptures teach that God has always had a kingdom upon this earth,
but it has been manifested in different ways. The kingdom was originally expressed in the
creation itself, in its perfect obedience to God’s will. With the corruption of the creation
through the sin of man, the kingdom was expressed in the lives of the Patriarchs who, like
Job, responded obediently in faith to God’s will. The kingdom became focused in a more
tangible manner after the call of Abraham and the emergence of the nation of Israel. Since
Pentecost, the kingdom has been expressed in the Church. But the Bible promises different
expressions of the kingdom in the future — first, in the form of a thousand-year rule of Jesus
upon this earth, and second, in the form of an eternal rule of God upon a new earth.
Notice that the progression here is both circular and expansive. It is circular in that it
begins and ends with the reign of God over a creation that is in perfect submission. It is
expansive in that after the Fall it constantly expands in scope from a few Patriarchs and their
families, to the nation of Israel, to the Church, and finally to all nations of the world.
The kingdom is thus past, present, and future. It is currently expressed in the Church,
but it is like a rose in the bud, yet to bloom in its full glory. The kingdom has always been
coming, and it will continue to come until God’s will is done perfectly. Even during the
Millennial reign of Jesus, the kingdom will be coming, for the Bible teaches that rebellion
will be lurking in the hearts of men.
The consummation of the kingdom will not come until all enemies of God have been
subdued. That will occur at the end of the Millennial reign of Jesus (Revelation 20:7-15) at
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which time He will surrender the kingdom to His Father, and God Himself will reign forever
over a redeemed creation (Romans 8:18-23 and 1 Corinthians 15:24-28).
Jesus and the Kingdom
This concept of the progressive unfolding of the kingdom was taught by Jesus in the
parable in which He compared the kingdom of God to the growth of grain, stating “the soil
produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head”
(Mark 4:26-29).
Jesus clearly expressed His belief in a future, literal Jewish kingdom here on earth at
the time of His Ascension. As He stood with his disciples on the Mount of Olives, they asked
Him, “Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). He
responded, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own
authority” (Acts 1: 7). Notice, Jesus did not rebuke His disciples by telling them that the
kingdom was going to be a spiritual kingdom called the Church and not a Jewish kingdom
here on earth. Rather, He simply told them that it was not God’s will to reveal to them when
the Jewish kingdom would be established.
Jesus also expressed the progressive coming of the kingdom in the prayer He taught
His disciples to pray when He said: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is
in heaven” (Matthew 6:10). This is a clear expression of Hebrew parallelism, a poetic form
in which the first statement is refined and defined by the second. Thus, to pray, “Thy kingdom
come,” is to pray, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We certainly have not
achieved that goal during the current Church Age.
The ultimate truth about the concept of the kingdom is that Jesus Himself was the
incarnation of all that the concept represents, for He obeyed God perfectly in all things
(Hebrews 5:8-9).
Answering the Question
Is the Church the kingdom? Yes and no. Yes, it is the Lord’s kingdom in the world
today. No, it is not the full expression of the kingdom. The kingdom is present and yet still
coming. Let us pray for its more glorious expression by joining the Apostle John in his prayer:
“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).
“Then the sovereignty, the dominion, and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the
whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will
be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him.”
— Daniel 7:27
Source: http://christinprophecy.org/articles/is-the-church-the-kingdom/
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WHAT WAS PENTECOST?
(Don Samdahl)
Most of Christendom believes the significance of Pentecost was that it was the birth
of the Church, the day the body of Christ came into existence (Acts 2). The basic argument
is that since the Church is composed of believers indwelt with the Holy Spirit and that
occurred at Pentecost, the Church began at Pentecost.1 Superficially, such an argument seems
to have merit. But upon closer examination the argument fails. The Biblical evidence forbids
such an interpretation.
If Pentecost was not the birth of the Church, what was it? This study will examine
what occurred at Pentecost, explain the significance of that day, and hopefully, end confusion
surrounding it.
Preparation for Pentecost: God’s Prophetic Plan
God’s prophetic program governed Israel. That program operated under two great
themes which defined Jewish theology. Those themes were the Day of the Lord and the
Kingdom of God. The Day of the Lord was that period of time when God would pour His
wrath upon the world in judgment (Zephaniah 1). The Kingdom of God on earth meant that
the Messiah would rule Israel as King as well as the entire world and Israel would be the
preeminent nation (Matthew 6.10; Psalm 2.6, 8; Zechariah 14.9). Israel’s repentance was
required for the Kingdom of God to come upon the earth (Matthew 23.37-39; Romans 11.25-
26). The Day of the Lord will be the required catalyst for this event.
The Beginning of God’s Prophetic Program
Immediately after Adam and Eve sinned God revealed a plan to redeem mankind and
restore his lost position (Genesis 3.15). God provided no details about how or when He would
accomplish this. For 2,000 years, from Adam to Abraham, God disclosed Himself to all of
mankind. That program ended in disappointment. Man continued to reject God and became
so evil that God had to destroy almost the entire human race and restart civilization with
Noah. Despite this new beginning, after only a couple hundred years, mankind against
demonstrated contempt of God’s revelation. In rebellion, man tried to access God and heaven
through the building of the Tower of Babel. God had destroyed false religion in the Flood,
but man restarted it and consolidated it at Babel (Babylon). Babel became the font of all false
religion. Babel was also man’s attempt to establish world government.2 To thwart this evil,
God confused man’s language. This divided mankind with the result that men established
nation states. Nations serve as a check on unlimited power. Thus, nationalism is a divine
institution that restrains the absolute power that can be exercised under globalism and world
government.
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In about 2,000 B.C., God initiated a new program. By means of this program God no
longer would reveal Himself to all mankind. Instead, He would reveal Himself to and through
a special people, a new race. God began this new program with Abram (Abraham). God
called Abram and established a covenant with him (Genesis 12.1-3). The provisions of the
Abrahamic Covenant went through Isaac (Genesis 17.9) and Jacob (Genesis 28.13-15), the
father of the Twelve tribes of Israel (the Jews). The covenant stated God would bless those
who blessed the covenanted line (the Jews) and curse the one who cursed that line.3 The
result of this covenant was that God’s revelation of Himself and His blessing of the nations
(Gentiles) would be mediated through Israel. All Gentile blessing from this time forward
would come through Israel.
God made additional covenantal promises to Israel which expanded upon the
foundational Abrahamic covenant. These were the Land, Mosaic, Sabbatic, Davidic, and
New covenants.4 In sum, they stated God would bless the world through Israel (the Jews),
give the Jews most of the land in the Middle East, govern the Jews through the Law (written
on tablets of stone but later upon the heart), and provide them with an eternal King from the
line of King David. Also included in this program were promises that every Jew (not just a
Jew of the tribe of Levi) would be a priest (Exodus 19.4-6; Zechariah 8.20-23) and that Israel
would become the preeminent nation among the nations of the world (Deuteronomy 28.1-2,
13).
Everything in this program depended upon the Messiah. The prophetic literature
revealed the Messiah would deliver Israel from its enemies (Luke 1.67-74) and reign as King.
This was the Jew’s great hope. Shrouded in much greater secrecy (a riddle wrapped in a
mystery inside an enigma in Churchill’s phraseology) was how the Messiah would deliver
Israel from sin. Indeed, only one passage in the Old Testament indicated how this would be
accomplished (Isaiah 53). In hindsight, this passage is clear. Christ took upon Himself
mankind’s sins and paid for them, satisfying the justice of God. But the Jews had no
understanding of this passage. Even today, 2,000 years later, national Israel does not
understand this passage (Romans 11.25). One day they will (Romans 11.26).
God’s Prophetic Plan Concerning the Holy Spirit
What is outlined above is Jewish theology. Particularly relevant in this study is how
God would bring about Israel’s obedience. God revealed it would be done through the
promise of the New Covenant: God promised He would place His Spirit within them and
write His Law upon their hearts (Ezekiel 36.22-32; Jeremiah 31.31-34).
God had commissioned John the Baptist as the herald of the Messiah-King. He
proclaimed, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3.2). The kingdom of
God was near because the King was present. God was ready to establish His kingdom on
earth if the Jewish nation would repent. Jesus echoed this same message (Matthew 4.17). But
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the Jews refused. Instead, they delivered Him to Pilate and demanded His death (Mark 15.13-
14).
The Jews got what they wanted. Jesus was executed. But after three days in the earth
He rose from the dead (Matthew 12.40, 28.5-9). The significance of His resurrection for His
disciples was that since He was alive He could establish His kingdom. The establishment of
God’s earthly kingdom was their primary focus (Matthew 6.9-10). And why not? For three
years, since the Lord had called them, He has spoken of little else. In anticipation, they
questioned Him about it. Luke wrote:
Gathering them together, He commanded them not to leave Jerusalem, but to wait for what
the Father had promised, “Which,” He said, “you heard of from Me; 5 for John baptized
with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 So
when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, “Lord, is it at this time You
are restoring the kingdom to Israel” (Acts 1.4-6)?
Jesus had instructed them to remain in Jerusalem to await the Holy Spirit. But foremost of
their mind was the kingdom. They expected Him to establish it soon. When they returned
from the Mount of Olives to Jerusalem, their first action was to fill Judas’ vacant position
(Acts 1.15-26). They knew twelve apostles had to be in place for the kingdom of God to
come. They remembered the Lord’s promise that they would sit upon twelve thrones ruling
the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19.28). One did not forget such a promise.
The Feast of Pentecost
Pentecost was a Jewish feast day which occurred fifty days after the Feast of First
Fruits. On the Feast of First Fruits, Jesus arose from the dead. So Pentecost occurred fifty
days after our Lord’s resurrection.
John the Baptist had baptized Israel with water. He had prophesied the Messiah would
baptize the nation with the Holy Spirit (John 1.33) and with fire (Matthew 3.11; Luke 3.16).5
Jesus told his disciples He would give them another Comforter (John 14.16-18, 26, 15.26-
27, 16.7-15) and to remain in Jerusalem to await His coming. He declared:
Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with
you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and
the Psalms must be fulfilled.” 45 Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures,
46 and He said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from
the dead the third day, 47 and that repentance for forgiveness of sins would be proclaimed
in His name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 48 You are witnesses of these
things. 49 And behold, I am sending forth the promise of My Father upon you; but you are
to stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” 50 And He led them out
as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. 51 While He was blessing
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them, He parted from them and was carried up into heaven. 52 And they, after worshiping
Him, returned to Jerusalem with great joy, 53 and were continually in the temple praising
God (Luke 24.44-53).
The Day of Pentecost
The apostles, all twelve now, obeyed the Lord’s command. They waited in Jerusalem.
This took patience and faith. The Lord told them He would send another Comforter and to
remain in Jerusalem. He did not tell them when this would occur. “When” is God’s great
secret. He has told us what He will do. He has not told us when He will do it. The lesson for
believers is to obey and remain faithful. We may die before God’s promises are fulfilled but
we will live to see them fulfilled. This is faith and hope.
On the day of Pentecost, the Twelve and the 120 were gathered (Acts 2). They heard
a sound like a great wind. Cloven tongues like fire appeared upon each of them. They were
filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in foreign languages. Jews who had come from
other nations to celebrate the festival heard these local Jewish believers miraculously
speaking their languages. They were stunned. They could not understand what was
happening (Acts 2.12). Some said they were drunk. Alcohol can have a number of effects but
learning and speaking a foreign language is not one of them. Peter responded that it was only
9 a.m. and they were not drunk. He provided the answer to what had happened (Acts 2.16)
quoting Joel:
17‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on
all mankind; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men
shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams;
18 Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of
My Spirit and they shall prophesy.
19 ‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above and signs on the earth below, blood,
and fire, and vapor of smoke.
20 ‘The sun will be turned into darkness and the moon into blood, before the great
and glorious day of the Lord shall come.
21 ‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved’
(Acts 2.17-21).
Peter quoted Joel to reveal the meaning of Pentecost. Joel’s prophecy dealt with the
Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord included God’s sending forth His Holy Spirit, judging
the earth in His wrath, establishing the Lord Jesus Christ upon the throne of David as the
King of Israel and the world, and creating a new heavens and new earth. Joel’s prophecy
dealt with two of these aspects: The New Covenant in which God would give His Holy Spirit
to Israel and His wrath upon earth.
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God had revealed He would give His Holy Spirit to Israel in two other key passages in
addition to Joel: Ezekiel 36 and Jeremiah 31. Ezekiel wrote:
22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It is not for your sake,
O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned
among the nations where you went. 23 I will vindicate the holiness of My great name
which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then
the nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I prove Myself
holy among you in their sight. 24 For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all
the lands and bring you into your own land. 25 Then I will sprinkle clean water on you,
and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
26 Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove
the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will put My Spirit
within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My
ordinances. 28 You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My
people, and I will be your God. 29 Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness;
and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you. 30 I will
multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again
the disgrace of famine among the nations. 31 Then you will remember your evil ways and
your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your
iniquities and your abominations. 32 I am not doing this for your sake,” declares the Lord
God, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of
Israel!”
Jeremiah wrote:
27 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will sow the house of Israel and
the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast.28 As I have watched
over them to pluck up, to break down, to overthrow, to destroy and to bring disaster, so I
will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the Lord. 29 “In those days they will
not say again, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30 But everyone will die for his own iniquity; each man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth
will be set on edge. 31 “Behold, days are coming,” declares the Lord, “when I will make
a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, 32 not like the
covenant which I made with their fathers in the day I took them by the hand to bring them
out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, although I was a husband to
them,” declares the Lord. 33 “But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of
Israel after those days,” declares the Lord, “I will put My law within them and on their
heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 34 They will not
teach again, each man his neighbor and each man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’
for they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them,” declares the
Lord, “for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”
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These passages proclaimed God’s promise of the New Covenant to the Jews. God spoke
through Ezekiel to the house of Israel (Ezekiel 36.22) and through Jeremiah to Israel and
Judah (Jeremiah 31.27, 31).6 Thus, God addressed all twelve tribes of the Jewish nation. God
told the Jews He would fulfill His promise not because of any merit in them but because of
His name, which they had profaned among the Gentiles. The manner in which God expressed
His promise indicated its sovereign nature: it would come about solely on the basis of His
character and integrity. The purpose and effect of the indwelling Holy Spirit would be that
the Jews would keep His Law. Notice that Gentiles were not addressed. God gave no promise
that Gentiles would be filled with His Holy Spirit.
The prophetic timetable was sketchy. Peter quoted Joel because he believed fulfillment of
the prophecies of Ezekiel and Jeremiah had begun and that fulfillment of the rest of the
prophecies was near. The prophets had revealed God would exercise His wrath, restore Israel
to their land with the boundaries He had promised Abraham (Genesis 15.18 cf. Exodus 23.31;
Deuteronomy 11.24), establish His kingdom in which the Messiah would reign, and give the
Jews the indwelling Holy Spirit. The order of the fulfillment of these promises was
impossible to discern clearly. Peter understood the events of God’s program but not their
timing. Since the Holy Spirit had come, he assumed the rest of the prophecy would be
fulfilled soon. Thus, he quoted the rest of Joel’s prophecy about the sun being turned to
darkness and the moon to blood. He understood Israel had to repent, for the Lord had stated
He would not return until every Jew declared, “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the
Lord” (Matthew 23.37-39). Because of this, when the Jews asked Peter on the Day of
Pentecost what they must do in light of having crucified their Messiah, he told “all the house
of Israel,” “every one of you” to “repent and be baptized for the remission of sins” (Acts
2.36-39, 21).
What Pentecost Was Not
Peter only addressed Jews at Pentecost. For him to have addressed Gentiles was
unthinkable. The Lord had no ministry to Gentiles in the three years He spent with His
disciples and neither had they (Matthew 10.5-7). After His resurrection, He had told them to
go to the nations (Matthew 28.19-20) but instructed them to go to Jews first (Acts 1.8). This
was in accordance with the prophetic program. God had revealed Israel would bless the
Gentiles as early as the Abrahamic covenant. This promise anticipated Jews being established
in their kingdom (Zechariah 8.20-23; cf. Psalm 2.6-8; Isaiah 49.5-6, 60.1-3; Jeremiah 4.1-2).
For this to happen, the entire nation had to repent (Matthew 23.37-39).
The definition of the Church, the body of Christ, is that organism composed of Jew
and Gentile, who are equal in Christ (Galatians 3.26-28). If Pentecost was the birth of the
Church, why did Peter not include Gentiles in his message? Why did Peter not mention the
cross, salvation through the blood of Christ, or forgiveness of sins based upon the death,
burial, and resurrection of Christ? Why did he not offer salvation by faith alone, apart from
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works? Why did he not say a word about the body of Christ? To press further, why did Peter
or any of the Twelve or James never mention the body of Christ?
Such questions reveal the sandy foundation of the argument that the Church began at
Pentecost. The reason Peter proclaimed none of those things was because he did not know
them. Peter knew nothing about God’s salvation based upon the death, burial, and
resurrection of Christ, of salvation by faith alone apart from works, of the significance of the
blood of Christ, or of the one body of Jew and Gentile equal in Christ. Peter knew nothing of
the Church or the teachings associated with it. Peter knew God’s prophetic, kingdom
program. He knew the prophecies of the prophets which Jesus had proclaimed throughout
His earthly ministry (Romans 15.8). The reason the prophets revealed nothing about the
Church, the body of Christ, was they knew nothing of it. God had kept this revelation a secret
until He revealed it to Paul (Ephesians 3.1-7). The prophets had revealed Gentiles would be
blessed through Israel in the kingdom. But the kingdom had not come. The kingdom did not
come and could not come because Israel refused to repent.
Great confusion has resulted from failure to understand that the events of Pentecost
happened to believing Jews, not to Gentiles, not to the Church, the body of Christ. One area
of confusion has been the speaking in tongues. Some denominations and churches teach
believers are supposed to speak in tongues because that was the evidence of the Holy Spirit
at Pentecost. But what happened at Pentecost had nothing to do with the Church. Everything
that happened at Pentecost involved Jews. The advent of the Holy Spirit was a fulfillment of
God’s promises to the Jewish people, not the Church. There were no Gentiles (except
possibly a few proselytes) among the Jerusalem believers. No Gentile evangelism existed.
Indeed, even several years after Pentecost, Jewish believers in Jerusalem berated Peter when
they learned he had gone to the house of the Gentile Cornelius (Acts 11.1-3). This should
convince any but the most recalcitrant of the impossibility that the Church began at Pentecost.
But that’s not all. Other problems exist. John declared Jesus would baptize Jewish
believers with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3.11; Mark 1.8; Luke 3.16; John 1.33), a fact Jesus
confirmed (John 15.26, 16.7). These declarations indicated Jesus was the baptizer, the agent
of baptism. However, Paul taught that members of the Church, the body of Christ, are not
baptized by Christ but are baptized by the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the agent who
baptizes one into the body of Christ. Thus, Paul wrote:
12 For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the
body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were
all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were
all made to drink of one Spirit (1 Corinthians 12.12-13).
Thus, at Pentecost, Jewish believers were baptized by Christ. Believers of Paul’s gospel,
however, are not baptized by Christ but by the Holy Spirit. These are two separate baptisms.
Furthermore, Luke did not write that Jewish believers at Pentecost were baptized into the
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body of Christ. Those who believed the gospel of the kingdom were baptized by Christ so
they could fulfill the promises of Ezekiel and Jeremiah. Those who have believed the gospel
of the grace of God, Paul’s gospel, have been baptized by the Holy Spirit in order to become
members of the Church, the body of Christ. The Church is not under the administration of
the Mosaic Law but under the administration of grace (Romans 6.14).7 These baptisms
indicate two separate and distinct programs in God’s salvific plan.
Another thing to note is that all believers were not indwelt with the Holy Spirit at
Pentecost. According to the Biblical record, some were indwelt later. Luke recorded:
1 It happened that while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul passed through the upper country
and came to Ephesus, and found some disciples. 2 He said to them, “Did you receive the
Holy Spirit when you believed?” And they said to him, “No, we have not even heard
whether there is a Holy Spirit.” 3 And he said, “Into what then were you baptized?” And
they said, “Into John’s baptism.” 4 Paul said, “John baptized with the baptism of
repentance, telling the people to believe in Him who was coming after him, that is, in
Jesus.” 5 When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. 6 And
when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Spirit came on them, and they began
speaking with tongues and prophesying. 7 There were in all about twelve men (Acts 19.1-
7).
These were Jews who had believed John’s gospel. They were saved. But they had not
received the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Indeed, they had heard nothing about the Holy Spirit.
When Paul heard their testimony, he laid his hands upon them and they received the Holy
Spirit.8 We should note a few things here. Acts is a transitional book. For a period of time
both God’s prophetic, kingdom program and the Church program overlapped. For example
the gospel of the kingdom and the gospel of the grace of God (Paul’s gospel) operated from
the time Paul received it (probably when he was in Arabia) until the Council of Jerusalem.
After the Council of Jerusalem, only Paul’s gospel was valid (Acts 15.11; Galatians 1.6-9).
Thus, because of Israel’s rejection of her Messiah, God’s prophetic program to Israel began
to be replaced by God’s program for the Church, which He had revealed to Paul. That they
received the Holy Spirit through Paul is an indicator of this transition. They spoke in tongues
for this was what had happened when the Holy Spirit that had occurred at Pentecost. Since
they were saved under that program it was fitting they should have the same experience as
the believers at Pentecost.
Lastly, we should note that when one is saved by believing Paul’s gospel (1 Corinthians
15.1-4) he is immediately indwelt, baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of Christ (1
Corinthians 12.12-13). This baptism has no sign (such as speaking in tongues). Tongues no
longer exist in the Church, having ceased long ago (1 Corinthians 13.8). But even when they
operated in the Church, they were not a sign for believers but for unbelievers (1 Corinthians
14.22).
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Conclusion
The Scriptures indicate clearly that the Church, the body of Christ, did not began at
Pentecost. Pentecost was a Jewish feast and God’s program for Israel was still in fill effect.
God had revealed nothing about a body of Jew and Gentiles being equal in Christ. What He
had revealed was that Gentiles would be blessed through Israel. The Church was a secret God
revealed to the apostle Paul alone (Ephesians 2.11-13, 3.1-9).
Source: http://doctrine.org/what-was-pentecost/
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The Resurrection of The Dead
THE
RESURRECTION
OF THE DEAD
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. This a premillennial position which teaches that at Christ’s second coming the
righteous dead will be raised first and that the ensuing thousand-year reign of Christ
will be followed by the resurrection of the wicked dead for judgement.
2. The first resurrection is the raising of the righteous dead at the “secret” coming of the
Lord preceding the “rapture.”
3. Most premillennialists and dispensationalists teach that the coming of the Lord
promised in I Thessalonians 4:13-17 will be a “secret” coming at which time the
righteous dead will be raised in the first resurrection and the living saints will together
with the resurrected dead be then caught up or “raptured.”
Doctrine Defeated.
1. When Christ return He would raise the dead (Matthew 24:36 ff; Matthew 25; John
5:25-29; John 6:40; John 11:23-26), yet He never said one word that would give birth
to the premillennial concept.
2. The resurrection plainly taught (Romans 8:11; I Corinthians 15: 12-57; 11
Corinthians 4:14; Philippians 3:20-21; I Thessalonians 4:13-17; 11 Thessalonians
1:7-10; II Peter 3; I John 3:1-2), yet none of these direct and plain passages speak of
a premillennial “first resurrection.”
3. There in one resurrection (Acts 24:15).
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True
TRUE
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PREMILLENNIALIST DOCTRINE OF “THE RESURRECTION” IS FALSE
(Paul Pollard)
It is the purpose of this study to examine three New Testament passages which are
essential in the premillennial position that at Christ’s second coming the righteous dead will
be raised first and that the ensuing thousand-year reign of Christ will be followed by the
resurrection of the wicked dead for judgement.
In I Corinthians 15:23-24 the premillennialists assume a thousand-year period

between I Corinthians 15:23 and verse 24 based primarily on their views that the phrase eita
to telos translated in the American Standard Version “Then cometh the end” means “then the
rest.” For them the word for “then” eita is understood to imply next to order, but not
necessarily immediately, as evidenced by the use of the word in Mark 4:17,28 and I Timothy
2:13. However, the premillennial usage of eita is incorrect on several counts. (1) eita is a
temporal expression (i.e. having to do with time) with no specification as to how much time
has elapsed.’
Therefore, the word eita occurs when the writer wishes to state that an unspecified
amount of time has passed. There are many instances where eita does not imply “any interval
of any duration between the preceding clause and that which it introduces. “ 2 Passages which
support this contention are found in John 13:4, 5; 19:26-27; I Cor. 15:5,6, 7. The Pre-
millennialists also mistranslate the words to telos in the phrase eita to telos by saying that it
means “the rest” (i.e. the wicked dead who are to be raised after a thousand years). This is to
resort to special pleading. Even if telos signifies “the rest, remainder” in Isa. 19:15 (LXX)
and in Aristotle, De genera- Hone animalium, I. 18 (which is far from proven), these two
cases are worth little against the multitude of passages where the meaning is simply “end”.3
The most acceptable interpretation of to telos in view is that it is a technical term referring to
the final consummation. The text of I Cor. 15:23-24 indicates that the coming of Christ will
be followed immediately or at least only after a short interval by the resurrection and
judgment. Passages such as I Cor. 1:7-8; II Cor. 1:14; Phil. 1:6, 10; 2:16 confirm the idea
that Paul closely connects the coming of Christ with the day of judgment for the world (note
especially John 5:28-29). There is absolutely nothing in I Cor. 15:23-24 to justify the
inserting of a thousand-year reign of Christ between his coming and the end. Also, relevant
to the discussion is I Thess. 4:13-17. The pre-millennial view is that since the dead in Christ
rise first in these verses a second resurrection for the wicked dead at a later time is implied
(i.e. after a thousand years). However, this is not the true meaning. Paul writes here in order
to clear up a misunderstanding about those Christians who die before Christ’s return.
Evidently there was Page 38 some anxiety in the church that the dead would not be raised at
the Lord’s coming and that only the living at the time of this parousia (coming) would be
taken to heaven.
The premillennialists have misinterpreted these verses by assuming a later second

resurrection of the evil dead at the end of the millennial reign. Clearly, however, to interject
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such matters into I Thess. 4:13-17 is to go beyond Paul’s discussion. Ernest Best has stated,
“We must not go too far and attempt to draw conclusions from this passage about the state
of the dead between their death and the parousia, nor about the temporal relationship of the
resurrection to the parousia-equally there is nothing which describes the nature of the
resurrection body (cf. I Cor. 1535ff) or even says that at the parousia those who are alive will
be transformed (cf. I Cor. 1551-7). Least of all is there any discussion of what happens to
non-Christians who die nor of their position at the parouisa: Paul deals only with believers.”
Probably the most important verses for the premillennial argument are found in Rev. 20:4-
14.
A full exegesis of this passage is not attempted here since it will be discussed more
completely in a separate article in this issue. Only the points germane to the premillennial
doctrine on the resurrection will be considered. Their major contention is that the martyred
saints have been given thrones upon which they exercise judgment and reign a thousand years
with Christ (v. 4). After the millennium, the evil dead (“the rest of the dead”) will be judged
(V. 5). The premillennial view of Rev. 20:4-14 is incorrect because:
(1) John saw “souls” and not bodies (v. 4). It is readily apparent that the earth is not
a fitting habitation for souls. Furthermore, it is the souls of “the ones having been beheaded.”
If as the premillennialists argue the text is to be taken literally, not symbolically, then only
those martyrs who were beheaded, excluding all of those who were stabbed, clubbed, etc.,
were allowed to reign with Christ. For the premillennialists to argue that those “beheaded” is
symbolic for all the martyrs destroys their case. Either the verses are literal or else they are
symbolic. On this point one cannot have his cake and eat it too!
(2) Closely related to the foregoing argument is the fact that in Revelation we are
dealing with apocalyptic material and not straightforward narrative. Since apocalyptic
literature is full of symbolic, often bizarre imagery, it must be interpreted symbolically and
not literally. The pre-millennialists misunderstand and misuse Rev. 20:4-14 by pressing for
a literal interpretation.
(3) The thrones (Rev. 20:1,4) evidently are in heaven. John uses “throne” forty-seven
times in all, and except for Satan’s throne (2:13) and that of the beast (13:2, 16:10) all appear
to be in heaven. Very damaging to the premillennial argument is the truth that nowhere in
this text does John say that the saints will reign on the earth! Rather, the entire scope of the
action takes place in heaven. In these verses, we apparently have a picture of the spiritual
existence of all who are reigning victoriously in heaven with Jesus. Where else would “souls”
reign with Christ?
(4) These souls lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. For the
premillennial view to be valid the verbs lived (ezesan) and reigned (ebasileusan) would have
to be future, that is, in the coming millennium the souls “shall live and reign” with Christ on
earth for a thousand years. In reality, however, these verbs are in the aorist tense, representing
point blank action in the past time, and not the future tense. Furthermore, there is no
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compelling reason to interpret “lived” (ezesan) to mean bodily resurrection as the
premillennialists do. Although the word does occur in reference to Christ’s resurrection (cf.
John 11:25) this is not the normal word for resurrection (which is anasfasis). It is plausible
that the word lived (ezesan) refers to those who were martyred for Christ and who lived on
with him in heaven!
(5) The rest of the dead (v.5) likely representing the evil dead, lived (ezesan) not until
the thousand years are finished. Here as in verse 5 “lived” (ezesan) is not to be taken as bodily
resurrection. According to H. B. Swete, this statement occurs so that John can guard against
the impression that he had referred to the general resurrection, which was to follow and not
precede the thousand-year reign of the martyrs.’ For clarity the expression “the rest of the
dead lived not until the thousand years were completed” should be set apart by parenthesis
since the words “this is the first resurrection” apply to the martyrs and not to this latter group.
The arbitrariness of the pre-millennial exegesis is demonstrated in their insistence that

the “first resurrection” must be a bodily resurrection whereas the “second death” (vv. 6, 14)
is death in a metaphorical rather than a literal, physical sense.’ A striking feature of Rev.
20:4-14 is the pattern first resurrection, [second resurrection (implied)], second death, [first
death (implied)]. Apparently, there is a cross-connection between the stated and implied
members of the comparison; however, it does not conform to chiasmus as found in the New
Testament several combinations are possible including: first resurrection second death
[second resurrection] [first death]. Meredith G. Kline prefers this diagram with the first
resurrection referring to the death of the Christian (i.e. physical death), the first death to
physical death, the second resurrection to bodily resurrection and the second death to the fate
of the wicked. Another possible (and preferred) design is: first resurrection [first death]
[second resurrection] second death. In this form, the members given in Rev. 20:5 and 20:6,
14 are taken as opposites. Accordingly, the first resurrection is the spiritual resurrection of
the Christian at baptism (cf. Rm. 6: 1ff.; Col. 2:12, etc.). The opposite member (and reversal
of the first idea) is the second death meaning spiritual death for the wicked.
The second resurrection (implied in the text) is the bodily resurrection, and the first
death (implied in the text) is physical death. In this and in the former scheme by Kline the
pre-millennial view that the phrase “this is the first resurrection” refers to a bodily
resurrection is precluded. The second diagram avoids Kline’s understanding of resurrection
as death, a meaning which is unsubstantiated in scripture. In light of the context, “this is the
first resurrection” seemingly refers to those who having been joined with Christ by baptism
suffer martyrdom and reign with him in heaven. In contrast, all of the unspiritual enemies of
Christ are those who participate in the “second death.” Without the spiritual “first
resurrection” no one can reign victoriously with Christ.
Source: The Spiritual sword, Volume 9, October 1977, Premillennialism – Part 1; Paul
Pollard: Premillennialist doctrine of the resurrection is false. Pages 37-39.
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THE RESURRECTION: GOD'S ANSWER TO MODERNISM
(Franklin Camp)
The resurrection of Christ is fundamental to everything that is in the Bible. It is the

main stumbling-block to modernism. If the resurrection can be proved, it establishes the
supernatural. Even modernists admit that if the resurrection is true, there is proof of the
supernatural. If Christ were raised from the dead. Christ is the Son of God. If he is the Son
of God, then God is. Only God would have made all the issues of all the Bible rest on one
simple fact, the resurrection of Christ. Yet this is true. Prove the resurrection of Christ and
all the rest of the Bible can be accepted without question. This is why I gave this study the
title. Modernism is not really modern. It is as old as Corinth. Modernists of today have not
moved one step from Corinth.
I. ARGUMENTS FOR THE RESURRECTION.
First Corinthians 15 is the greatest argument ever made on the resurrection. Paul's
argument for the resurrection is unanswerable. It is the most authoritative in history. This
chapter removes the subject from theory to certainty. There may be questions as to the how
but there are none left &"1 to the fact.
First Argument. Paul appeals to the Scriptures. (1-4.) In spite of pagan philosophy
and human wisdom. Paul started with the Scriptures. We would do well to learn that we
cannot improve on this approach. The Old Testament is history written before it happened.
The New Testament is history fulfilled.
Second Argument. Five Points in This Argument. Christ Died. In order to prove his
resurrection, we must first prove that Christ died. The nature of his death was not that of a
martyr or just a demonstration of God's love. He died for our sins. He Was Buried. It was
necessary to prove that he was in the tomb. This is to remind us of the empty tomb. This is
the thorn in the side of all that deny the resurrection. The Romans declared him dead. They
were there and responsible for his death and body. The tomb was sealed. There has never
been a reasonable argument offered to explain the empty tomb. The resurrection is the only
answer. He Rose Again. The tomb is empty, what is the answer? Here is the only answer. He
was seen. The word translated seen is the one that always means to see with the eye. So, it is
not a vision. Now Paul calls his witnesses. First there is Peter. Peter evidently was known by
the church at Corinth. (1: 12.) Following the resurrection, he was sent a special message.
When he heard of the resurrection, he thought it was an idle tale. He ran with John to the
tomb. Peter was the first to enter and see the graveclothes. He would make a good witness in
any court. Next, Paul summons the twelve. There was no disagreement among them. Thomas'
testimony is of great value. (John 20: 24-29.) Then follow five hundred witnesses that saw
him at once. Some were still living. Finally, James is called. Where could you find a jury of
men that would refuse to give a verdict that rejected the testimony of every witness? Not a
single witness gave any testimony of denial. Yet modernist are willing to reject the testimony
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of over five hundred witnesses that testified of the resurrection. Paul. Christianity's greatest
enemy before his conversion. The resurrection of Christ is the only valid explanation of Paul's
change.
II. THE RESURRECTION A DOCTRINAL NECESSITY.
Paul has established the fact of the resurrection. He now interprets this fact as
the basis of New Testament doctrine. Preaching is wasted effort unless the resurrection
is a fact. Preaching vain. (15: 14.) It is just an empty shell. Faith vain. (15: 14, 17.) Void of
truth, a lie. The Apostles are false witnesses. (1: 15.) Testified to a lie. God, a deceiver and
Christ, a fraud. God promised to raise Christ from the dead and Christ claimed he would rise.
What happens now to the so-called ethics of the gospel as claimed by modernists? If Christ
was not raised, the greatest lie of all time has had the greatest moral influence in all history.
Dead perished. (15: 18.) What a dismal picture. Salvation is just a joke. Talk about swindlers,
modernists ought to get the prize.
The greatest swindle of all time is for a man to stand in a pulpit and claim to preach,
yet deny the resurrection. This life only. Again, this destroys the claim of modernists, that the
gospel robbed of the resurrection, has moral value. If confined to this life only, there is no
moral value in it. The gospel, without the resurrection. cheats men on both ends-now and in
the future. Preaching that denies the resurrection must also deny the existence of God. (15:
23-28.) If there is a God, he rules. If he rules, every enemy must be destroyed. This cannot
be accomplished unless death is destroyed. Only the resurrection can do away with death.
The mediatorial work of Christ is destroyed unless he was raised. The resurrection is essential
to his atonement. Therefore, without the resurrection, there is no kingdom. Unless Christ was
raised, God is not all-in-all and never will be. Preaching has no incentive for living. (15: 32.)
Live it up today, for you may not be here tomorrow. There is no wonder that religion today
cannot check the tide of materialism.
Modernists have robbed the gospel of the only thing that can stop the materialism of
our day. If the resurrection is not a fact, then preaching is without purpose, churches are
without any reason for existing and every assembly is a hollow mockery. Preaching that
denies the resurrection is productive of actual evil. (15: 33.) In this verse, Paul is pointing
directly at the teachers in Corinth that denied the resurrection. "Evil communication" is
modernist communication. Paul said it corrupts good manners (morals). Our age is a living
demonstration of Paul's statement. Preaching that denies the resurrection is not "intellectual."
"Thou Fool." (15: 36.)
III. THE EFFECT OF THE RESURRECTION.
The resurrection is the one basic point that maintains the very faith and life of
the church. Compromise this point and the whole structure crumbles. The resurrection
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is God's vindication of the life and death of Christ. All that he said and claimed is
vindicated by his resurrection.
All that Christ urged on his disciples is vindicated by his resurrection. The
resurrection is God's way of saying, in language the world can understand, that Christ is all
he claimed to be: The Son of God; Savior from sin; the world's only hope.
The resurrection was God's way of changing the world. 1. Following his death
and prior to his resurrection, the disciples were afraid, behind locked doors, and
scattered. What brought them back together, gave them courage to fill Jerusalem with
doctrine and then shook the Roman Empire from one side to the others? The answer is
the resurrection.
The resurrection changed the world's conception of immortality. Neither Judaism

nor paganism could give any hope. The dream and desire was in every human heart, but it
took the resurrection of Christ to change it from a dream to a reality. His resurrection changed
the grave from a prison into a robing room for eternity. The road of hope now runs through
the garden, up to Calvary, past the tomb, upward to God's right hand, where Christ is alive
forever more.
The resurrection is God's pledge that truth and right will conquer. When Christ
died it surely seemed that force was stronger than love; that falsehood had conquered truth;
that evil had won the victory over righteousness; that sight had been victorious over faith.
This is a world in which Calvary can happen, but the resurrection of Christ says the evil that
made Calvary possible cannot win. The resurrection testifies to the fact that one day all of
earth's injustices and inequalities will be made right. The resurrection of Christ is God's
guarantee that it matters not how long the struggle may be, nor how painful the wounds, truth
will outlast every lie, and love will win its day.
The resurrection is God's announcement that men are accountable for their sin.
The Resurrection is the assurance of judgment day. (Acts 17: 30,31.)
The resurrection changed the outlook of the disciples. It changed Mary from a
mourner to a missionary with the gladdest tidings ever to fall on human ears. It changed Peter
from a despondent failure to one who found forgiveness and a chance to start over. It changed
Thomas from doubt and despair to faith.
The resurrection changed death from a dead-end street to but an interlude that
flows into incorruption, glory and power. (15: 42,43.) The resurrection changes death from
an isolated fact to one among many others. The resurrection makes it possible for us to see
death in its true light. There is birth, life, death, burial, resurrection, immortality and heaven.
First Corinthians 15 is a masterpiece of all time. It touches every string of the human heart.
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It conquers death and clothes the soul with a spiritual body to live where every longing and
aspiration of the heart of man shall overflow.
CONCLUSION.
The Incentives of the Resurrection. Paul, having passed from time to eternity, now
returns to the daily activities. (15: 58). Steadfast and Unmovable. The resurrection is an
incentive for a settled and fixed purpose of heart. Always. The resurrection is an incentive
for constant, continued spiritual growth. A real appreciation of the resurrection will cure
many in the church of living only by spasmodic zeal and seasons of indifference.
The resurrection is an incentive for a life that overflows. The word abounding means
to flow over the edges. The proper conception of the resurrection will change many in the
church who exist on the subsistence level to overflowing Christians. The resurrection is an
incentive to work. "Your labor in the Lord will not be in vain." An understanding of the
resurrection will change the idlers and pew-warmers in the church to workers. The
resurrection is an incentive to be a Christian. "In the Lord."
The resurrection proclaims in thundering tones, that every life out of Christ is a wasted
life. If Romans is the crown of all books written by Paul, the Fifteenth Chapter of First
Corinthians is the climax of all chapters. This chapter says to every modernist, "Thou shalt
not pass." Let all read it with bowed heads and humble, but uplifted hearts. Here death has
met his master, and in arguments that have never been answered, assures every heart that
death's icy hold in the grave will one day turn loose; then death shall be no more.
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectures, “The Church Faces Liberalism” - 1970, Franklin Camp:
The Resurrection – God’s answer to modernism. Pages 348-354.
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THE FIRST RESURRECTION
(Eldred Stevens)
Toward the end of the Apocalypse, Revelation 20:4-6, John said:
“And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and
I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Word
of God, and such as worshipped not the beast, neither his image, and received not his mark
upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived, and reigned with Christ a thousand
years. The rest of the dead lived not until the thousand years should be finished. This is the
first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: over these the
second death hath no power; but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign
with him a thousand years.”
These three verses are the most controversial passage in the most controversial book
of the Bible. N0 chapter has been the seedbed of more speculative folly than Revelation 20.
It has been the playground of those who are determined to speak concerning that which has
not been fully revealed (Deut. 29:29), and to pry into that which has been hidden from angels
and even from the Son of God Himself (Matt. 24:36).
Its apocalyptic language continues to intoxicate sensational preachers and religious

racketeers with fanciful interpretations that they can use to hypnotize gullible audiences and
advance their careers. In dealing with the problems that we face here, I feel very much as did
Peter in the first century. He, too, was concerned about those scriptures which contain things”
“. . . hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unsteadfast wrest . . . unto their own
destruction” (II Pet. 3:16). Our purpose in this lecture is two-fold: first, to explain and to
expose the error of the premillennial view of the first resurrection; and, second, to present
some alternative views, calling attention to the strengths and weaknesses of each.
I. THE PREMILLENIAL VIEW
Premillennialists have used Revelation 20 as a proof text (their only significant one,
by the way), for an elaborate concoction of eschatological speculations. They maintain that
the first resurrection is the raising of the righteous dead at the “secret” coming of the Lord
preceding the “rapture.” In order for you to see their theory in perspective, let me present in
summary fashion their timetable. Most premillennialists and dispensationalists teach that the
coming of the Lord promised in I Thessalonians 4:13-17 will be a “secret” coming at which
time the righteous dead will be raised in the first resurrection and the living saints will
together with the resurrected dead be then caught up or “raptured” with the Lord in the air.
In this way, they will be spared the “great tribulation” that will afflict the earth. After seven
years, they will return to the earth with their re-incarnated Lord to take the side of Israel in a
bloody battle at Armageddon, to slaughter Israel’s foes (now expected to be the
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Communists), to set up again the literal throne of David in the literal city of Jerusalem, and
to begin a literal earthly reign of a literal thousand years.
The theory then calls for a second resurrection at the end of the millennium to bring
forth the wicked dead to face the final judgment day. Such theories are not new. Within 100
years of the writing of Revelation, Novation wrote a millennial interpretation of Revelation
20, thus introducing the “chiliasm” controversy which has persisted even to our day. The part
of the theory that concerns us here, however, has been more recently refined. The theory of
the secret coming, the first resurrection, and the rapture. has for decades been attributed to
John Darby, a British preacher and the father of modern dispensationalism. It has just recently
been learned that. these aspects of the millennial theory were taught much earlier, and
perhaps first, by a woman, Margaret McDonald, of the Irving Church in Glasgow, Scotland.
The theory was spread tremendously through the work of a Kansas lawyer, C. I.
Scofield, who incorporated Darby’s concepts in notes added to a King James text and
published (first in 1909 and revised in 1967) as the popular Scofield Bible. It has been the
most influential instrument in the spread of dispensationalism. Our own generation has been
shaken somewhat by the sensational and admittedly fascinating presentation of the same
ideas in Hal Lindsey’s recent popular paperback, The Late Great Planet Earth. His book has
been popular among Bible-believing people because of its stress on the inspiration of the
scriptures and because of its attack on liberal theologians who do not believe the Bible
prophets could foretell the future. While we delight in such attacks on liberal, skeptical
theologians, we recognize the fact that they perhaps do no more harm than those Bible-
believing preachers who wrest prophecy and lift it from context in order to Support
speculative and arbitrary theories. Perverting the scriptures is perhaps as sinful as questioning
their inspiration.
What is wrong with the premillennial concept of the first resurrection? First, evidence
to support the theory is too scarce. The expression “first resurrection” is found only in this
one place in the Bible, in a chapter that is obviously exceedingly figurative. Of course, the
Bible has to teach something only once for it to be true, but it is inconceivable that the
dispensational “first resurrection,” if true, would have been mentioned only once, in such a
setting, and in such language. Jesus often discussed in very plain language what would
happen at His return and how He would raise the dead (Matthew 24:36 ff; Matthew 25; John
5:25-29; John 6:40; John 11:23-26), yet He never said one word that would give birth to the
premillennial concept.
The resurrection of the dead was one of the principal points of New Testament
kerygma, or apostolic preaching (Acts 3:2021; 4:2; 17:18-32; 24:14-21: 26:8), yet one would
never get from any of those recorded sermons the idea that there would be a first resurrection
of some of the dead, more than 1,000 years before a second resurrection. In the epistles of
the New Testament, the subject of the resurrection was often developed, sometimes quite
elaborately (Romans 8:11; I Corinthians 15: 12-57; 11 Corinthians 4:14; Philippians 3:20-
21; I Thessalonians 4:13-17; 11 Thessalonians 1:7-10; II Peter 3; I John 3:1-2), yet none of
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these direct and plain passages speak of a premillennial “first resurrection.” If it were part of
the Christian hope, surely some of them would have dealt some with the matter, or at the very
least, alluded to it. Premillennialists have woefully inadequate textual support.
A second objection to the millenial theory involves the serious error of interpreting
figurative language literally.
The book of Revelation is a book of signs and symbols (1:1). The bulk of the book is
admittedly written in apocalyptic language, as were the books of Ezekiel and Daniel in the
Old Testament, and as were many of the apocryphal books written between the testaments,
during periods of the oppression of God’s people by Macedonia, Egypt, Syria, and Rome.
Such language was peculiar to and necessitated by great oppression and persecution. The
Jewish people and the first century Christians understood such apocalyptic speech and could
easily interpret the symbols. They knew what certain “beasts” represented, what a harlot
symbolized, what “Babylon” meant, and what the significance of numbers in apocalyptic
writing was. For one, nineteen centuries removed, to lift phrases out of their figurative
context to make literal applications is grossly to pervert the scriptures.
In the 20th chapter of Revelation, there are more than twenty symbols such as the
key, the chain, the abyss, the dragon, the beast, the false prophet, the thrones, the lake of fire!
There are only fifteen verses in the chapter and more than twenty figures of speech!
Premillennialists reach right into that basket of symbols to pull out a literal resurrection of
the dead and a literal 1,000 years. That is not only poor exegesis; it is sheer folly. The first
resurrection of verse 5 is no more a literal resurrection than the beast of verse 4 is a literal
beast, or the abyss of verse 3 is a literal pit, or the dragon of verse 2 is a literal dragon, or the
chain of verse 1 is a literal chain. Revelation 20 is a figurative chapter and the first
resurrection must be a representation of something to be gleaned from sound exegesis of the
text in context.
Our third reason for denying the premillennial view of the first resurrection is that it
makes the Bible contradict itself. The Bible teaches that there will be only one actual
resurrection of the dead. There have been many spiritual or symbolic resurrections, but there
will be only one literal calling of the dead from their graves. Hear Jesus in John 5:28-29, “. .
. the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth;
they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the
resurrection of judgment.” Note that all that are in the tombs will hear His voice the same
hour.
Observe that both those who have done evil and those who have done good will come
forth in the same hour. Luke said in Acts 4:3 that the Sadducees were troubled because the
Jerusalem Christians “proclaimed in Jesus the resurrection from the dead.” Note
“resurrection,” not “resurrections.” The same is obvious in all other resurrection references,
such as Acts 17:18, 24:21, 26:8. It is perhaps more forcefully stated in Acts 24:15 where Paul
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spoke of his “. . . hope toward God . . . that there shall be a resurrection both of the just and
unjust.” Would you get the impression from that passage that there will be two resurrections?
Or just a resurrection involving both the righteous and the wicked? Fourthly, we deny the
dispensationalists’ first resurrection theory because it flatly contradicts scripture. Jesus said
in John 6:40, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone that beholdeth the Son, and
believeth on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” Those who
believe on Jesus and who have eternal life will be raised the last day -not 1,000 years before
the last day! Fifth, the millennial interpretation cannot be true because it would involve all
of the righteous dead while the first resurrection of Revelation 20 involved only the souls of
those who had been beheaded or who had suffered martyrdom those who had not worshipped
the beast or received his mark upon their foreheads or hands.
If the resurrection is to be taken literally, surely the cutting off the heads, the
worshipping of a beast, and the mark of the beast must be taken literally also. The language
of Revelation 20 hardly admits all of the righteous dead at some future coming of the Lord
to be raised in the first resurrection. Sixth, dispensationalists confront various other
problems created by their literal application. For example, the Scofield Bible has the first
resurrection composed of two resurrections: (l) the raising of the righteous dead at the Lord’s
secret coming; and (2) the raising, several years later, of those believers who died during the
tribulation.
II. ALTERNATIVE VIEWS
Since the premillennial explanation cannot be harmonized with scripture, what is the
truth regarding the first resurrection of our text? We call attention to some possibilities.
Because of admittedly difficult symbolism of the apocalyptic language, I shall not be
dogmatic. At the same time, I do not hesitate to express my own convictions in the matter,
and I shall list some alternative views, holding until last the interpretation which I consider
most likely the proper one. First, some apply the first resurrection to the resurrection of
Christ, taking place after His Armageddon conflict with His foes who crucified Him and with
Satan who tried to keep His soul in Hades. This makes an interesting theory, but it is all out
of place chronologically.
The first resurrection of Revelation could hardly be something that had already taken
place at the time of writing. Rather it should be a part of that “which must shortly come to
pass” (1:1). Furthermore, the first resurrection was to take place after the martyrdom
(beheading) of the saints and the great persecution of the church.
Second, we note the suggestion that the first resurrection refers to the spiritual re-birth
or regeneration by which Christians become children of God. For those who wish to study
this View further, I recommend the reading of the excellent work of J. Marcellus Kik.2 After
stating that the word “resurrection” requires “a rising again from the dead,” he suggests that
the key to understanding the first resurrection lies in identifying the “first death.” Citing
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Genesis 2:17, “. . . in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die,” and similar
passages such as Ephesians 2: 1-10, [Timothy 5:6, Matthew 8:22, to establish the fact that
the unregenerate sinner is truly dead, spiritually dead, he shows that regeneration is in the
fullest sense a resurrection (Colossians 2:12, 13; I John 3:14). His treatment of John 5:24 is
impressive. In that passage, Jesus said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my
word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not unto judgment, but
hath passed out of death into life.”
Since the resurrection that Jesus speaks of here is unconditional in contrast with the
general resurrection which will unconditionally bring forth all the dead, those who do not
believe Jesus as well as those who do (John 5 :28-29; Acts 24:15), it follows that the passing
“out of death into life” of John 5:24 is truly a spiritual resurrection from a spiritual death.
Kik identifies this with the first resurrection of Revelation 20:5.
If this be true, a question naturally is raised regarding the “thrones” of verse 4. The
text says that those who are raised in the first resurrection will sit on thrones, that judgment
will be given to them, that they will reign with Christ for a thousand years. Kik answers that
the “thrones” are figurative symbols to indicate the reign of the saint over himself and over
the world, citing such passages as 11 Timothy 2:12, Revelation 5:10, and Romans 5:17. He
concludes: “Every saint is seated upon a throne. Every saint is a king. Every saint rules over
sin. Every saint is a victor over the world, the flesh, and the devil. Every saint is more than a
conqueror. All things in this world and in the world to come belong to every saint. The apostle
John through the symbol of the ‘throne’ gathers up the teaching of the New Testament that
the saint reigns upon earth.” This view holds that the first resurrection is regeneration, that
all saints sit on spiritual thrones reigning with Christ during the “millennium” which is the
“regeneration” of Matthew 19:28, the Christian age.
There is much to commend this interpretation. We agree that the regeneration

experience is a Spiritual resurrection, that Satan was bound by Jesus, that the “thousand
years” symbolizes the Christian age, and that Christians rule as kings over themselves and
the world. We find it difficult, however, to be certain that these principals are what John is
basically stressing in Revelation 20. If that were John’s message, why did he use apocalyptic
language? Why didn’t he speak more directly and plainly as did other writers and the Lord
Himself? We incline to believe that this view ignores somewhat the times and circumstances
of John’s writing and the basic purposes of the Revelation. We also question the inclusion of
all saints in the first resurrection. The text leaves the definite impression that John is talking
about a more limited group in the first resurrection, those who had been beheaded and who
had not worshipped the beast. We find it difficult to apply that to every Christian. A third
view of the first resurrection has been more recently presented well in a booklet written by
John A. Copeland.4 He argues that the language must be symbolic and that “resurrection” is
a very logical symbol for the restoration of something that has degenerated or apostatized
from its original condition. He concludes:
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Since the New Testament church has now been restored to the earth in limited degree
it has not been universally restored men all over the world can now begin taking part in this
“first resurrection” … the universal restoration of the church. Thus, Copeland has the faithful
Christian martyrs symbolically living and reigning again in the restoration of their faith, zeal,
doctrine and practice. A fourth explanation is that of John T, Hinds in the Gospel Advocate
commentaries. It is quite similar to the one just discussed, maintaining the same basic
symbolism. We mention it separately because of the more specific way in which Hinds, who
employs “continuous historical” method of interpretation, identifies the first resurrection
with the breaking of the power of the papacy and the Roman church.
Those who believe the Revelation to be a prophetic preview of church history, with
particular emphasis on the apostasy and development of Roman Catholicism, see the binding
of Satan, the millennium, the first resurrection, beginning when the papacy lost its supreme
power. Hinds calls attention to the reigning of “souls” (not bodies) who “reign with Christ
because their lives are imitated by saints on earth who, like themselves would die before
becoming traitors . . . Although no devotee of the continuous history approach, William
Hendriksen, in his fine work on Revelation similarly interprets the first resurrection as the
translation of the disembodied souls of martyrs, and all others who die in the faith, from this
sinful earth to God’s holy heaven, to share in Christ’s spiritual reign from the throne that He
occupies during the millennium or Christian age.
May I present now a concept of the first resurrection that seems to me more probable.
In presenting it, my reasons for questioning these other concepts will be clearer. In
order to understand Revelation 20, several basic questions must be answered. Why was the
book written? To whom? Why was apocalyptic language used? Is there a connection between
the figures of Revelation and those of Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel? The book was written to
give hope and courage to first century Christians who were suffering severe persecution. The
beheaded saints are probably the martyrs of the Domitianic purge. John is using the same
apocalyptic figures used by Ezekiel and Daniel to give hope to Judah when she was oppressed
by Babylon, and used by Jewish authors of apocryphal books written while the Jews were
oppressed by Syria. Ezekiel pictured the revival of the Israelite nation as the resurrection of
dry bones (Ezek. 37:14).
God promised to breathe on those bones and make them live, covered with new
sinews, flesh, and skin. He referred to leading them back to Jerusalem, reviving their
persecuted and defeated life as a nation. The same sort of resurrection imagery is in Isaiah
26:13-14. The same figure is borrowed by John to give hope to first century Christians
regarding their persecuted cause and their martyred loved ones. John wanted them to know
that out of their apparent defeat, God would forge a great victory. Out of their death would
come life a resurrection! It is called the “first resurrection” to distinguish it from the general
resurrection before the judgment.
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Their cause would be resurrected! Those who had been martyred would share in
reigning “because their witness won the victory which made it possible. Their death was the
death of the cause they represented; what is their resurrection but the resurrection of their
cause?” J.W. Roberts argues convincingly that the reign of verse 4 is not a universal reign,
but one in which only martyrs take part. Ray Summers agrees, stating that it requires a
“twisting of the scriptures” to make the symbol fit anyone else.10 This View of the first
resurrection is basically the same as that presented by Foy E. Wallace in his commentary11
and in his lectures in Houston’s Music Hall.
This interpretation fits so much better the purpose of the book. It also harmonizes
well with its context. It makes 20:4-7 parallel 11:1-14, which scarcely anyone would interpret
literally. There the two witnesses are killed by the beast and the Lord’s people are tormented
by the two prophets, but later the witnesses are restored to life and taken up to heaven.
Furthermore, the first resurrection becomes a beautiful sequel to Revelation 6:9. There John
saw the souls of martyrs crying out, “How long, 0 Master . . . dost thou not judge and avenge
our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” In chapter 6 the souls of the persecuted and slain
are under the altar crying out for vengeance; in chapter 20, those same souls are sitting on
thrones, living and reigning with Christ. Their resurrection and their reign in chapter 20 are
just as symbolic as the altar and cry of chapter 6.
What hope and comfort that message must have given early Christians! Thus, to be
assured that their cause would not remain defeated and that their martyred loved ones had
not died in vain! Thus, to know that when their cause would shortly be resurrected, their
loved ones would live and reign with Christ in glorious triumph, and that “over these the
second death hath no power!”
“Premillennialism True or False?” Eldred Stevens: The First Resurrection. Pages 150-157.
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Error
ERROR
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HOW MANY RESURRECTIONS WILL THERE BE?
(Don Stewart)
Scripture speaks of two distinct resurrections - that of the just and the unjust. All Bible
believers agree that there will be a resurrection of both the believing and unbelieving dead.
Resurrection of the Righteous
1. The Awakening to Everlasting Life.
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting
life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2).
2. The Resurrection of The Righteous.
And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the
resurrection of the righteous (Luke 14:14).
3. The Resurrection of Life.
Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will
hear His voice and come forth - those who have done good, to the resurrection of life,
and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:28,29).
4. The Better Resurrection.
Women received their dead by resurrection. Others were tortured, refusing to accept
release, in order to obtain a better resurrection (Hebrews 11:35).
5. The First Resurrection.
The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is
the first resurrection (Revelation 20:5).
Resurrection of The Unrighteous
1. The Resurrection to Disgrace and Contempt.
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting
life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2).
2. The Resurrection of Condemnation.
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Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will
hear His voice and come forth - those who have done good, to the resurrection of life,
and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation (John 5:28,29).
3. The Resurrection of The Unrighteous.
have a hope in God - a hope that they themselves also accept - that there will be a
resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous (Acts 24:15).
When Will They Occur?
Though Bible believers acknowledge that both the righteous and unrighteous dead will be
raised, there is no agreement as to the time when they occur. There are those who believe
that everyone is resurrected at once, while others believe the different resurrections are
spaced out over a period of time.
All at Once
There are a couple of passages that seem to teach that the righteous and unrighteous dead
are all raised at once. The Lord told Daniel.
Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life,
and some to shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:2).
Jesus said.
Do not be astonished at this; for the hour is coming when all who are in their graves
will hear His voice and will come out - those who have done good, to the resurrection
of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation (John
5:28,29).
And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I should lose nothing of all that He has
given Me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of My Father, that all
who see the Son and believe in Him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up
on the last day. No one can come to Me unless drawn by the Father who sent Me; and
I will raise that person up on the last day (John 6:39,40,44).
Paul said.
In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead,
and in view of His appearing and His kingdom, I give you this charge (2 Timothy
4:1).
To many people, these passages clearly speak of one general resurrection of both the
saved and lost.
Response: Those whose reject one general resurrection do not think these passages
conclusively teach that all will be raised at once. All they are saying is there will be a
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resurrection of the righteous and unrighteous at the "last hour" or "last day." This, it is argued,
is an undetermined period of time and could stretch over a thousand years.
Separate Resurrections
There are a number of passages that seem to call for a separate resurrection of
believers. Then I saw thrones, and those seated on them were given authority to judge.
I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their testimony to Jesus and
for the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not
received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned
with Christ a thousand years. (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the
thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection (Revelation 20:4,5).
Here we have the souls of the disembodied waiting for their resurrection. After they
are raised from the dead, it is said the remainder of the dead did not live again until a thousand
years after this. This means two phases of the resurrection are separated by one thousand
years.
First Resurrection Limited to Righteous
The argument that the first resurrection is limited to the righteous can be seen as
follows. Jesus said.
But those who are considered worthy of a place in that age and in the resurrection
from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage (Luke 20:35).
Paul wrote of himself.

and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead (Philippians 3:11).
If all were to be raised together, then why would Paul work to obtain the inevitable?
His statement seems to assume a separate resurrection of believers and unbelievers. He wants
to be raised "out from among the dead" with the other believers.
Thousand Years Apart
The fact that there is a first resurrection implies a second resurrection. The rest of the dead
will not raised for another thousand years.
Blessed and holy are those who have part in the first resurrection. The second death
has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign
with him for a thousand years (Revelation 20:6).
Different Order
Christ's resurrection was first in God's program, then to be followed by believers.

For in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each in his own
order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming (1
Corinthians 15:22,23).
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When Paul says each in his own order, it has the idea of a marching unit of the Roman
army. The picture is of a great triumphal procession in which a general return victorious from
a battle while the troops march behind him in different ranks. The resurrection of the dead
will be similar. Jesus Christ will be the first, followed by a number of groups who come back
from the dead, each in their own marching order.
Order of Resurrections
The Bible, therefore, speaks of two future resurrections, the resurrection of life and
the resurrection of death. The first resurrection is in four parts or phases. The various
resurrections that the Bible speaks about are as follows.
1. Jesus Christ
2. The Saved at Rapture of The Church
3. The Tribulation and Old Testament Saints at His Second Coming
4. The Great White Throne and Millennial Saints
1. Christ is the First
Jesus Christ was the first person to come back from the dead, never to die again. Paul wrote.
But now Christ is risen from the dead, and has become the firstfruits of those who
have fallen asleep . . . But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those
who are Christ's at His coming (1 Corinthians 15:20,23).
Paul said.
that the Messiah must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, He
would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles (Acts 26:23).
Paul said of Christ's pre-eminence.

He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning, the firstborn from the
dead, so that He might come to have first place in everything (Colossians 1:18).
He is the one who is pre-eminent over death.
2.The Rapture of The Church
At the rapture of the church, the bodies of the living and dead will be changed.
For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an
archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first (1
Thessalonians 4:16).
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Paul told the church at Corinth about the change that would take place.
Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound,
and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable
body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality.
When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on
immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: "Death has been
swallowed up in victory." "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your
sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God,
who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved, be
steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know
that in the Lord your labor is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:51-58).
3. The Tribulation Saints
The Tribulation saints will be raised at the Second Coming of Christ.

And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. And
I saw souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the
Word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received
his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ
for a thousand years. But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand
years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is the one who has
part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall
be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years (Revelation
20:4-6).
4.The Old Testament Saints
The believers, who lived before the time of Christ, will be raised when Christ returns. The
Book of Daniel says.
At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There
shall be a time of tribulation, such as has never occurred since nations first came into
existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found
written in the book. Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake,
some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt (Daniel 12:1-
2).
After the tribulation period is over, Jesus Christ returns. He will then resurrect the
Old Testament saints. Every believer, from the time of Adam until the Second Coming of
Christ, will have been resurrected at this time.
Thousand Years
When Christ returns, there will be a thousand-year period of peace when He rules in
righteousness. This is known as the Millennium.
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5. Great White Throne
At the end of the thousand years, there will be a final resurrection. This will come at the Great
White Throne judgment.
Then I saw a Great White Throne and the one who sat on it; the earth and the heaven
fled from His presence, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great
and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Also, another book
was opened, the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, as
recorded in the books. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades
gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had
done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second
death, the lake of fire; and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of
life was thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 20:11-15).
The resurrection of unbelievers will take place after the thousand-year reign of Christ
upon the earth. All the unbelieving dead who have ever lived will be resurrected and judged
at this time.
Righteous Judged
There will also be some righteous people who will be judged at the Great White
Throne. They will consist of children who were born during the Millennium and became
believers in Jesus. They will have been born to people who entered the Millennium with
mortal, not resurrected bodies.
Summary
Although some Christians believe there will be only one general resurrection at the
end of time, Scripture seems to speak of more than one resurrection. The first resurrection
will be that of believers while the second resurrection will be that of unbelievers. The
resurrections in Scripture do not all happen at once. The first resurrection refers to the
resurrection of all believers, though separated in time. There has been over nineteen hundred
and fifty years between the resurrection of Christ, and the rapture of the church - which is
still future. After the church is raptured and resurrected, there will be the resurrection of the
tribulation saints- those who have died for their testimony of Christ during the Great
Tribulation. At that time, the Old Testament saints will also be raised. After the thousand-
year reign of Christ on the earth, the Millennium, there will be one final resurrection. This
will be the unrighteous dead from all time as well as the millennial saints - those who have
believed in Christ during the Millennium. After the Great White Throne judgment, there will
be no more resurrections.
Source: https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_138.cfm
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WHEN WILL THE RESURRECTION TAKE PLACE?
(GotQuestions.org)
Question: "When will the Resurrection take place?"
Answer: The Bible is clear that resurrection is a reality and this life is not all that
there is. While death is the end of physical life, it is not the end of human existence. Many
erroneously believe that there is one general resurrection at the end of the age, but the Bible
teaches that there will be not one resurrection, but a series of resurrections, some to eternal
life in heaven and some to eternal damnation (Daniel 12:2; John 5:28-29).
The first great resurrection was the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is documented in
each of the four Gospels (Matthew 28; Mark 16; Luke 24; John 20), cited several times in
Acts (Acts 1:22; 2:31; 4:2, 33; 26:23), and mentioned repeatedly in the letters to the churches
(Romans 1:4; Philippians 3:10; 1 Peter 1:3). Much is made of the importance of Christ’s
resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15:12-34, which records that over five hundred people saw Him
at one of His post-resurrection appearances. Christ’s resurrection is the “first fruits” or
guarantee to every Christian that he will also be resurrected. Christ’s resurrection is also the
basis of the Christian’s certainty that all people who have died will one day be raised to face
fair and even-handed judgment by Jesus Christ (Acts 17:30-31). The resurrection to eternal
life is described as “the first resurrection” (Revelation 20:5-6); the resurrection to judgment
and torment is described as “the second death” (Revelation 20:6, 13-15).
The first great resurrection of the Church will occur at the time of the rapture. All
those who have placed their trust in Jesus Christ during the Church Age, and have died before
Jesus returns, will be resurrected at the rapture. The Church Age began on the Day of
Pentecost and will end when Christ returns to take believers back to heaven with Him (John
14:1-3; 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). The Apostle Paul explained that not all Christians will die,
but all will be changed, i.e., given resurrection-type bodies (1 Corinthians 15:50-58), some
without having to die! Christians who are alive, and those who have already died, will be
caught up to meet the Lord in the air and be with Him always!
Another great resurrection will occur when Christ returns to earth (His Second
Coming) at the end of the Tribulation period. After the rapture, the Tribulation is the next
event after the Church Age in God’s chronology. This will be a time of terrible judgment
upon the world, described in great detail in Revelation chapters 6-18. Though all Church Age
believers will be gone, millions of people left behind on earth will come to their senses during
this time and will trust in Jesus as their Savior. Tragically, most of them will pay for their
faith in Jesus by losing their lives (Revelation 6:9-11; 7:9-17; 13:7, 15-17; 17:6; 19:1-2).
These believers in Jesus who die during the Tribulation will be resurrected at Christ’s return
and will reign with Him for a thousand years during the Millennium (Revelation 20:4, 6).
Old Testament believers such as Job, Noah, Abraham, David and even John the Baptist (who
was assassinated before the Church began) will be resurrected at this time also. Several
passages in the Old Testament mention this event (Job 19:25-27; Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:1-
2; Hosea 13:14). Ezekiel 37:1-14 describes primarily the regathering of the Nation of Israel
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using the symbolism of dead corpses coming back to life. But from the language used, a
physical resurrection of dead Israelis cannot be excluded from the passage. Again, all
believers in God (in the Old Testament era) and all believers in Jesus (in the New Testament
era) participate in the first resurrection, a resurrection to life (Revelation 20:4, 6).
There may be another resurrection at the end of the Millennium, one which is implied,
but never explicitly stated in Scripture. It is possible that some believers will die a physical
death during the Millennium. Through the prophet Isaiah, God said, "No longer will there be
in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days; for the
youth will die at the age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one
hundred will be thought accursed” (Isaiah 65:20). On the other hand, it is also possible that
death in the Millennium will only come to the disobedient. In either event, some kind of
transformation will be required to fit believers in their natural bodies in the Millennium for
pristine existence throughout eternity. Each believer will need to have a “resurrected” type
of body.
It is clear from Scripture that God will destroy the entire universe, including the earth,
with fire (2 Peter 3:7-12). This will be necessary to purge God’s creation of its endemic evil
and decay brought upon it by man’s sin. In its place God will create a new heaven and a new
earth (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1-4). But what will happen to those believers who survived
the Tribulation and entered the Millennium in their natural bodies? And what will happen to
those who were born during the Millennium, trusted in Jesus, and continued to live in their
natural bodies? Paul has made it clear that flesh and blood, which is mortal and able to decay,
cannot inherit the kingdom of God. That eternal kingdom is inhabitable only by those with
resurrected, glorified bodies that are no longer mortal and are not able to decay (1 Corinthians
15:35-49). Presumably, these believers will be given resurrection bodies without having to
die. Precisely when this happens is not explained, but theologically, it must happen
somewhere in the transition from the old earth and universe to the new earth and new heaven
(2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:1-4).
There is a final resurrection, apparently of all the unbelieving dead of all ages. Jesus
Christ will raise them from the dead (John 5:25-29) after the Millennium, the thousand-year
reign of Christ (Revelation 20:5), and after the destruction of the present earth and universe
(2 Peter 3:7-12; Revelation 20:11). This is the resurrection described by Daniel as an
awakening “from the dust of the ground ... to disgrace and everlasting contempt” (Daniel
12:2). It is described by Jesus as a “resurrection of judgment” (John 5:28-29).
The Apostle John saw something that would happen in the future. He saw a “great
white throne” (Revelation 20:11). Heaven and earth “fled away” from the One sitting on it.
This is evidently a description of the dissolution by fire of all matter, including the entire
universe and earth itself (2 Peter 3:7-12). All the (godless) dead will stand before the throne.
This means they have been resurrected after the thousand years (Revelation 20:5). They will
possess bodies that can feel pain but will never cease to exist (Mark 9:43-48). They will be
judged, and their punishment will be commensurate with their works. But there is another
book opened—the Lamb’s book of life (Revelation 21:27). Those whose names are not
written in the book of life are cast into the “lake of fire,” which amounts to “the second death”
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(Revelation 20:11-15). No indication is given of any who appear at this judgment that their
names are found in the book of life. Rather, those whose names appear in the book of life
were among those who are blessed, for they received forgiveness and partook of the first
resurrection, the resurrection to life (Revelation 20:6).
Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/when-resurrection.html
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WHAT IS THE RESURRECTION?
(JW.org)
In the Bible, the word translated as “resurrection” comes from the Greek anastasis,
which means “raising up” or “standing up again.” A person who is resurrected is raised up
from death and restored to life as the person he was before. —1 Corinthians 15:12, 13.
Although the word “resurrection” is not in the Hebrew Scriptures, often called the
Old Testament, the teaching appears there. Through the prophet Hosea, for example, God
promised: “From the power of the Grave I will redeem them; from death, I will recover
them.”—Hosea 13:14; Job 14:13-15; Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2, 13.
Where will people be resurrected? Some people are resurrected to life in heaven to
rule as kings with Christ. (2 Corinthians 5:1; Revelation 5:9, 10) The Bible calls this “the
first resurrection” and “the earlier resurrection,” both expressions implying that there is
another resurrection to follow. (Revelation 20:6; Philippians 3:11) This later resurrection will
be to life on earth, which the vast majority of those brought back to life will enjoy. —Psalm
37:29.
How are people resurrected? God grants Jesus the power to raise the dead. (John
11:25) Jesus will restore “all those in the memorial tombs” to life, each one with his unique
identity, personality, and memories. (John 5:28, 29) Those resurrected to heaven receive a
spirit body, while those resurrected to life on earth receive a healthy physical body,
completely sound. —Isaiah 33:24; 35:5, 6; 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, 50.
Who will be resurrected? The Bible says that “there is going to be a resurrection of
both the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Acts 24:15) The righteous include faithful people,
such as Noah, Sarah, and Abraham. (Genesis 6:9; Hebrews 11:11; James 2:21) The
unrighteous include those who failed to meet God’s standards but did not have the
opportunity to learn and follow them.
However, those who become so wicked that they are beyond reform will not be
resurrected. When such ones die, they suffer permanent destruction with no hope of a return
to life. —Matthew 23:33; Hebrews 10:26, 27.
When will the resurrection take place? The Bible foretold that the resurrection to
heaven would take place during Christ’s presence, which began in 1914. (1 Corinthians
15:21-23) The resurrection to life on earth will occur during the Thousand Year Reign of
Jesus Christ, when the earth will be transformed into a paradise. —Luke 23:43; Revelation
20:6, 12, 13.
Why is belief in the resurrection reasonable? The Bible provides detailed accounts
of nine resurrections, each confirmed by eyewitnesses. (1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:32-37;
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13:20, 21; Luke 7:11-17; 8:40-56; John 11:38-44; Acts 9:36-42; Acts 20:7-12; 1 Corinthians
15:3-6) Jesus’ resurrection of Lazarus is especially noteworthy, since Lazarus had been dead
for four days and Jesus performed the miracle before a crowd of people. (John 11:39, 42)
Even those who opposed Jesus could not deny the facts of the matter, so instead they plotted
to kill both Jesus and Lazarus. —John 11:47, 53; 12:9-11.
The Bible shows that God has both the ability and the desire to bring back the dead.
He keeps in his limitless memory a detailed record of each person he will resurrect by means
of his almighty power. (Job 37:23; Matthew 10:30; Luke 20:37, 38) God is able to restore
the dead to life, and he wants to! Describing the coming resurrection, the Bible says of God:
“You will long for the work of your hands.”—Job 14:15.
Misconceptions about the resurrection
Myth: The resurrection is a reuniting of the soul with the body.
Fact: The Bible teaches that the soul is the entire person, not some part that survives
death. (Genesis 2:7, footnote; Ezekiel 18:4) A person who is resurrected is not reunited with
his soul; he is recreated as a living soul.
Myth: Some people are resurrected and then immediately destroyed.
Fact: The Bible says that “those who practiced vile things” will receive “a
resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:29) However, this judgment is based on what they do after
they are resurrected, not before. Jesus said: “The dead will hear the voice of the Son of God,
and those who have paid attention will live.” (John 5:25) Those who ‘pay attention’ to, or
obey, the things they learn after they are resurrected will have their names recorded in “the
scroll of life.”—Revelation 20:12, 13.
Myth: When resurrected, a person receives exactly the same body that he had before
he died.
Fact: After death, a person’s body would likely have broken down and disintegrated.
—Ecclesiastes 3:19, 20.
Source: https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/what-is-the-resurrection/
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The Last Days Vs the Last Day
THE LAST DAYS

VS
THE LAST DAY
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. Premillennialists make this, and all references to the day of the Lord, refer to the end-
time, to the second coming of Christ.
2. The last days are “the conclusion of the system of things.”
3. This doctrine is based in the wrong interpretation of Matthew 24.
4. A certain kind of people was prophesied to appear in the last days (2 Timothy 3:1-5).
Doctrine Defeated.
1. The writers of the New Testament used the expression “the last days to refer to the
time between the first and second coming of Christ.
2. Joel and Peter were inspired, we must accept Peter’s interpretation of Joel 2:28-31.
“The last days” refer to the time of Acts chapter 2 until the end of time. The last days
are not just those few that occur immediately before the end.
3. This passage shows that grievous seasons would occur during the Christian Age (2
Timothy 3:1).
4. This passage makes the conclusion unavoidable that the last days were presently in
effect (Hebrews 1:1-2).
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True
TRUE
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THE LAST DAYS
(Garland Elkins)
The “Patriarchal Age” was in effect for some twenty-five hundred years, continuing
from Adam to Moses. Under this system, God dealt with the father as the representative of
the family. Genesis 18:19 is an illustration of this procedure.
The passage reads: "For I know him, that he will command his children and his
household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment;
that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.” God’s laws were
relatively few under this system. Paul said, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at;
but now commandeth all men everywhere to repent” (Acts 17:30). While their laws were
simple, yet God demanded obedience. “For if the word spoken by angels was steadfast, and
every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense of reward; How shall we
escape if we neglect so great salvation” (Heb. 2:2, 3). Animal blood was offered during this
age (Heb. 11:4).
The second age of man’s history is known as the “Jewish or Mosaic Dispensation
(Age).” With this system, there was a change from a family system to a national one. God,
under this arrangement committed his law to writing. “What advantage then hath the Jew? or
what is the profit of circumcision? Much every way: first of all, that they were entrusted with
the oracles of God” (Rom. 3:1, 2). Much of the Mosaic Law was typical or symbolic in its
nature. The law was intended only for a short time. Paul commented, “For what the law could
not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Rom. 8:3). Neither could animal sacrifices
blot out their sins (Heb. 10:1-4). The law made nothing perfect (Heb. 7: 19), but it remained
for a better covenant to do this (Heb.8:6-l3). Finally, the law was intended as a tutor or
schoolmaster to bring the Jews to Christ (Gal. 3:23-29). Jesus was born under the law and
was the only one ever to keep it perfectly. He honored it perfectly and then took it out of the
way by nailing it to his cross (Mt. 5:17, 18; Col. 2: 14). The third great period is “The
Christian Age” or “the last days.” Christ is vested with all authority (Mt. 28:18-20). All are
to hear Him (Mt. 17:5; (Heb. 6:19, 20). He is our mediator (Heb. 9:15). We obtain remission
of sins through His blood (Heb. 9:22; 10:9, 10). His is “a better covenant which hath been
enacted upon better promises” (Heb. 8:6). Our present study entails a detailed study of “the
last days” - the Christian Age.
“THE LAST DAYS” THE CHRISTIAN AGE
The writers of the New Testament used the expression “the last days to refer to the
time between the first and second coming of Christ. The first verse in which “the last days”
occurs in the New Testament is Acts 2:17. Peter declared, “but this is that which hath been
spoken through the prophet Joel: And it shall come to pass in the last days saith God...” (Acts
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2:16, 17). Since both Joel and Peter were inspired, we must accept Peter’s interpretation of
Joel 2:28-31. “The last days” refer to the time of Acts chapter 2 until the end of time. The
last days are not just those few that occur immediately before the end.
Numerous passages bear out this truth. To Timothy Paul wrote, “But know this, that
in the last days grievous times shall come” (II Tim. 3:1). This passage shows that grievous
seasons would occur during the Christian Age. We read in Hebrews 1 :1, 2, “God, having of
old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners,
hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things,
through whom also he made the worlds.” This passage makes the conclusion unavoidable
that the last days were presently in effect. Another important passage bearing on this subject
is 11 Peter 3:3: “Knowing this first, that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery,
walking after their own lusts.” Again, it is clear that this passage refers to the present
Christian Age. The passage teaches that during this age men would scoff at the last things,
particularly the second coming of our Lord.
Jesus believed and clearly taught that His crucifixion was the fulfillment of the
prophetic promises of the Old Testament. Just prior to His ascension, Jesus again told His
apostles that His death, burial and resurrection, along with the subsequent preaching of the
gospel, was the fulfillment of the prophetic promises of the Old Testament (Lk. 24:4447).
Peter likewise preached that Jesus’ death was according to the definite plan of God.
The failure of the rulers to understand this caused them to fulfill it by condemning Him (Acts
3:17, 18). Peter on Pentecost of Acts chapter two proclaimed the resurrection of Jesus to be
the fulfillment of God’s promises to David that one should forever set on his throne (Acts
2:29-36). In Peter’s second recorded sermon (Acts 3) he taught that the promises made to
Abraham, that in him all nations of the earth would be blessed, found fulfillment in Jesus
Christ (Acts 3 :25, 26). Paul presented the same truth on this matter as did Peter (Acts 13:22,
23). He affirmed that the promise of God to the fathers had been fulfilled in the resurrection
of Jesus Christ. He then affirmed the resurrection of Jesus to be the fulfillment of the promises
made to David (Acts 13:32-37). In his defense before Felix he stated that his Christian
convictions were the outgrowth of his belief in the law and the prophets (Acts 24: 14).
He restated this conviction before Agrippa (Acts 26:23-30). It is the case that all
preachers of the gospel from that time until the present have taught that the Christian age is
the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy. The New Testament thus forcefully proclaims
that the death of Christ was the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, and that the Christian
Age began on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2). From this study, we reach the following
conclusions. First, the phrase, “the last days,” when used in the New Testament from
Pentecost forward, always refers to the Christian Age. Second, the New Testament teaches
that the Christian Age is the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy, and is the last age before
eternity begins. Dispensationalists are wrong in attempting to project “the last days” ahead
to the second coming of Christ. There is no room for such a View in the New Testament. It
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clearly teaches that “the last days” began with the first advent of our Lord as specifically set
out in Acts 2:17 and Hebrews 1:1, 2.
The New Testament teaches that the church, which is the present kingdom of God, is
the fulfillment of God’s promise to David that one of his descendants would sit on his throne
forever. The New Testament does not teach a return of the Jews to Palestine for the purpose
of establishing an earthly kingdom with Christ reigning, with headquarters in Jerusalem.
Dispensationalism denies that the phrase “the last days” in both the Old Testament and in the
New Testament refers to the present Christian Age. They deny that the present kingdom is
the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. A corollary doctrine is that the present reign of
Christ does not fulfill the promise of God to David that God would establish his throne
forever.
They erroneously contend that this promise will be fulfilled at the second coming of
Christ when, according to them, the millennial kingdom will be established upon the earth.
When these two doctrines are shown to be in error their entire system falls. Those who insist
Upon an earthly kingdom are placed in the dilemma as to why it did not come since Jesus
preached that it was at hand (Mt. 4:17; Mk. 1:15). Incredible as it is, these people deny that
the prophesied kingdom was set up in the first century AD. and that “the last days” began at
Pentecost. Dispensationalists use this route of attempting to escape from this dilemma. They
(at least some of them) postulate a difference between the “kingdom of God” and “the
kingdom of heaven.” They assume that the “kingdom of heaven” is equivalent to the
Messianic earthly rule of Jesus upon the throne of David, while the “kingdom of God” is the
heavenly rule of Christ upon His Father’s throne. At least some of the dispensationalists
contend that since Israel rejected Christ, instead of setting up the kingdom of heaven (the
Messianic kingdom with Jesus reigning on the throne of David), God therefore substituted
the present kingdom of God (with Jesus sitting upon his Father’s throne and not the Davidic
throne). There are numerous errors in this theory. First, their arbitrary distinction will not
stand up under investigation. Matthew 4:12-17; Mark 1:14,15 and Luke 14:14, 15 are parallel
passages. Yet, these verses use “kingdom of God” and the “kingdom of heaven”
interchangeably. There is no distinction between the “kingdom of heaven” and the “kingdom
of God” in the New Testament.
Second, the theory that Israel’s rejection of Jesus is the determining factor in God’s
timetable of prophetic fulfillment is false. If the establishment of the kingdom of heaven at
the first advent was conditional upon the acceptance of Christ by the Jews, how could they
be certain that they would accept Him the second time? If it is contended that Christ will
establish the kingdom at His second coming regardless of the Jews’ acceptance of Him, then.
their argument that He was prevented from establishing the kingdom at His first advent
because of their rejection is worthless. Third, the teaching of the New Testament that
Christ’s present reign is the fulfillment of the promise to David is devastating to
dispensationalism. Acts 15: 13-18 is one of the most important passages relative to this
subject. Since the tabernacle of David has been rebuilt in order that Gentiles might enter it,
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and from the first century AD. they have been entering it, this is proof positive that the
kingdom was set up; and, therefore the premillennialists are wrong. Fourth, the reign of
Christ demands the establishment of the kingdom of Christ. There can be no reign of Christ
separate from the kingdom of Christ. To establish the kingdom of Christ is to establish the
reign of Christ. The day of Pentecost (Acts 2) marks the establishment of the kingdom of
Christ.
After Pentecost people were said to be in the kingdom (Rev. 1:9). The kingdom was
on earth during the lifetime of Paul and Christians were in it (Col. 1:13). To deny that the
kingdom was set up on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ, and the present
reign of Christ as King of kings and Lord of lords, contradicts every fact and truth that has
any bearing on the subject throughout the entire Bible. Though numerous additional passages
could be cited 1 call attention to only one more. Peter said, “Yea and all the prophets from
Samuel and them that followed after, as many as have spoken, they also told of these days”
(Acts 3:24).
II. TWO PASSAGES REFUTE PREMILLENNIALISM
If there were no other scriptures to refute premillennialism (and there are many), the
following two plain passages are enough to completely refute premillennialism.
First, John 5:28, 29: “Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in
the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the
resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.” Thus,
John says that the hour cometh in which all that are in the tombs (both righteous and wicked)
shall hear his voice and come forth.
Within the same hour, the righteous and the wicked shall be resurrected. This does
not permit a millennium between the resurrection of the righteous and wicked. This passage
absolutely leaves no room for a millennium and a reign with Christ on earth between two
resurrections.
Second, Matthew 16:27; “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father
with his angels; and then shall he render unto every man according to his deeds.” This passage
plainly says that Christ will render unto every man according to his deeds. Rendering unto
every man includes both the righteous and the wicked. Question: When will Christ render
unto every man according to his deeds? Answer: When he comes in the glory of his Father
with His angels.
Then, not only will both the righteous and the wicked be raised simultaneously, but
those alive will be changed (I Cor. 15:51). The solemn and serious judgment of the world
will occur on this day (Acts 17:31; Mt. 25:31-34). The word of God will be the standard by
which we will be judged (John. 12:48; Rev. 20:12-15).
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III. THE LAST DAY OF THE “LAST DAYS”
The last day is indeed a momentous day. The importance of the events of that day,
and the dramatic swiftness with which they will be executed, create awe and humility; for,
on this day the return of our Lord will occur (I Thess. 4:16; Mt. 25:31-34; Acts 1:9-11).
Another momentous event of the last day will be the destruction of the world by fire. Peter
wrote, “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away
with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and
the works that are therein shall be burned up” (II Pet. 3:10). How very appropriate, therefore,
the solemn exhortation, “Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner
of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness” (11 Pet. 3:11).
The “day of the Lord” and the “second coming” are synonymous expressions (I Thess.
5:1, 2; Heb. 9:28; II Thess. 2:1 , 3). These passages make clear that the day of the Lord is the
day of His return. Death, his last enemy, shall destroyed (I Cor. 15:26). Jesus affirms that the
resurrection will occur on the “last day.” “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone that
beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at
the last day” (Jno. 6:40). See also Jno. 6:44; I Thess. 4:14; Jno. 5:28, 29. At this time the lord
will give unto every man his reward. If he raised only the righteous dead, and then reigned
with them on the earth for a literal period of one thousand years before the resurrection of
the wicked to render unto them according to their deeds, he would not have said that he would
render to every man according to their deeds.
“Premillennialism True or False?” Garland Elkins: The Last Days. Pages 68-73.
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ARE WE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS?
(Stanton See)
On a television program in May, 1987 the subject was discussed whether or not the
large numbers of preachers who are falling away today is a fulfillment of 2 Timothy 3:1-5
and thus if we arc in the "last days" immediately preceding the second coming of Christ. Can
we know if we are in the "last days" and if so, when did they start? Paul writes to Timothy in
2 Timothy 3:1-5 "But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will
be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to
parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal,
despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!"
(emphasis mine, SS) Paul gives Timothy a description of the characteristics of the people
who would be living in the "last days." But notice that Paul tells Timothy to "turn away" from
people with these characteristics. It does not take a scholar or really a person with a lot of
intelligence to understand that if Timothy had to turn away from these types of people that
would characterize the "last days" he had to have been living in the "last days" at some point
in his lifetime. Therefore, we know that we have been in the "last days" for at least nineteen
hundred years and that it does not just describe the characteristics of the people who would
be living immediately preceding the second coming of Christ.
Another passage that helps us to know when the "last days" started is found in Peter's
sermon on the day of Pentecost. We read in Acts 2:16-17, "But this is what was spoken by
the prophet Joel: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, That I will pour out of
My Spirit on all flesh; Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, Your young men shall
see visions, Your old men shall dream dreams. "' Again it does not take a scholar to recognize
that when Peter, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, states that what had happened in verses
1-4 was in fulfillment of Joel's prophecy of the "last days" that Acts 2 is the beginning of the
"last days." Since Acts 2 is the beginning of the Christian Age and the "last days," we can
see that the expression "the last days" is referring to the Christian age that began on the Day
of Pentecost and will last until the end of the world, not just to the days immediately
preceding the second coming of Christ.
Another passage that will help us to know when the last days started is found in
Hebrews 1:1-2. "God, who at various times and in different ways spoke in time past to the
fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by his Son, whom he has appointed
heir of all things, through whom also he made the worlds." This passage emphasizes the fact
that ever since Jesus sealed his gospel with his death (Heb. 9:16-17) we have been in the "last
days." Again this shows that we have been in the "last days" for over nineteen hundred years.
This helps us to understand what Paul means by the expression "in latter times" in 1
Timothy 4:1. Paul states that "in latter times some will depart from the faith, giving heed to
deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons." Paul is referring to the fact that at some point in
the future, there will come a falling away which had already started during the lifetime of the
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apostles (2 Thess. 2:1-7). And as any casual student of church history knows, a failing away
did take place after the apostles died in fulfillment of this passage.
The television program stated that the large number of preachers who are falling away
could well be a fulfillment of 2 Timothy 3:1-5 and thus we could be in the "last days"
immediately preceding the second coming of Christ. The fact that the conclusion was
contrary to the plain teaching of the Scriptures emphasizes the need to be like the Bereans
who "received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out
whether these things were so."
Guardian of Truth XXXI: 19, p. 591
October 1, 1987.
Source: http://www.truthmagazine.com/are-we-living-in-the-last-days
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THE DAY OF THE LORD
(Cecil May, Jr.)
For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is
lifted up and high;
And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the pride of men shall be brought
low; and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. And the idols shall utterly pass
away. And men shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from
before the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify
the earth (Isaiah 2:12, 17-19).
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will
pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the
earth and the works that are in it shall be burned up (11 Peter 3:10).
Both the Old and New Testaments speak of “the day of the Lord." in the Old
Testament, the expression is found only in the latter prophets, and is a translation of the
Hebrew word yom, and the proper name YHWH or, as we say, Jehovah. Similar New
Testament expressions include “day of God” (11 Pet. 3:12), “day of judgment” (11 Pet. 3:7),
“that day” (Matt. 7:22), “the day of the Lord Jesus” (11 Cor. 1:14), and “the day of Christ”
(Phil. 1:10).
In considering the passages where these and similar phrases appear, several questions
present themselves. Do the different but similar expressions all mean the same thing? Does
“the day of the Lord” have the same meaning in both the Old and New Testaments? Is there
one day of the Lord, or many? Is it the final day or is it a day in history after which history
will continue? These are the questions we will be seeking to answer in this study.
The Old Testament Usage
One of the earliest occurrences of the phrase “the day of the Lord” is in Amos 5:18-20.
Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! Why would you have the day of the
Lord? It is darkness, and not light; as if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him;
or went into the house and leaned with his hand against the wall and a serpent bit
him. Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light, and gloom with no
brightness in it?
There are some obvious implications inherent in this passage. For one, whether or not
this is the earliest Biblical usage of the phrase, the expression “the day of the Lord" was
certainly in current usage among the people of Israel and had a pleasant connotation to it, as
they viewed it. Amos, in leading up to these words, first pronounced God’s judgment on
Israel’s enemies (Amos 1:1-2;5), a prospect Israel found very pleasing. He then, however,
pronounced a similar judgment on Israel for her sins, because Israel had become even more
wicked than her pagan neighbors (Amos 2:6-16)! Then he adds:
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Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, 0 People of Israel, against the
whole family which I brought up out of the land of Egypt: “You only have I known
of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities!"
(Amos 311-2).
He speaks of Assyria and Egypt being gathered together against them, surrounding
their land and bringing down their defenses, with only a remnant escaping (3:9-12). He shows
how God had already sent them famine and death (4:6-7), plant diseases and human
pestilences (4:9-10), and partial victory of their enemies over them (4:11). Then he
prophesies their almost complete destruction; only 100 left out of 1000, only 10 out of 100
(5:1-3), and enumerates against the sins for which they shall be thus judged (524-16). It is
against this background that he says the day of the Lord, which they thought would be a day
when God’s wrath would be poured out on their heathen enemies, would in fact be directed
against them for their sins.
Another implication, from the context, is that Amos is speaking of a judgment in

which God uses other nations as the instruments of his wrath.
Isaiah uses the expression “the day of the Lord” in “an oracle concerning Babylon”
(13:1,9). Although there are references to cataclysmic signs in the heavens in association
with this day of the Lord, it is also explicitly stated that it will be brought about by Medes.
Behold, the day of the Lord comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the
earth a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it. For the stars of the heavens and
their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising and the
moon will not shed its light. Behold, I am stirring up the Medes against thee, who
have no regard for silver and do not delight in gold. Their bows will slaughter the
young men; they will have no mercy on the first of the womb: their eyes will not pity
children. And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the splendor and pride of the
Chaldeans, will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them (Isa. 13:9-l
1, 17-19).
And, of course, it is historical fact that Babylon was overthrown by the Medes and
Persians., The prophet Obadiah writes concerning Edom (verse 1). He prophesies her
destruction because of her apathy and concurrence in the day when Babylon destroyed
Jerusalem. In predicting Edom’s doom, the prophet says,
For the day of the Lord is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done
to you; your deeds shall return on your own head (Obadiah 15).
Interestingly, in an oracle against Edom by the prophet Isaiah, apocalyptic imagery,

similar to that used in Isaiah 13 concerning Babylon’s “day of the Lord,” is also used. (See
Isaiah 34:4-5.)
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In Joel, a terrible locust plague is what brings on “the day of the Lord" (Joel 1:15;
2:1,11). In Lamentations, “the day of thy (God’s) anger” is the destruction of Jerusalem by
Nebuchadnezzar, and is already past (Lam. 2:2l).
Certainly, then, in at least some Old Testament passages, the day of the Lord is a day
of destruction against a wicked people or nation, occurring in history, using another nation
or a natural calamity as the agent of destruction.
The approaching day of the Lord is the theme of Zephaniah ’s prophecy. The phrases
“day of the Lord” and “day of the Lord’s wrath” occur no fewer than seven times, besides
many uses of “the day,” “that day,” etc., referring to the same thing. Again, some language
suggests the final day or the end of the world may be being spoken of:
“I will utterly sweep away everything from the face of the earth,” says the Lord. “I
will sweep away man and beast; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the hsh of
the sea. I will overthrow the wicked; I will cut off mankind from the face of earth,”
says the Lord (Zeph. 1:2-3).
However, Zephaniah’s day, too, is within the framework of history. He foresees a

“remnant of the house of Judah” occupying not only their own land but that of the Philistines,
Moab, and Ammon as well (2:6-9). The destruction he prophecies upon the nearer neighbors
of Israel occurred under both the Assyrians and Babylonians. Armies seem to be in view as
the agent of the destruction (1:16). Babylon conquered Ethiopia (2:12) under
Nebuchadnezzar in 568 BC.2 Nineveh (2:13-15) fell in 612 BC. Zephaniah prophesied in the
days of Josiah (1:1), about 640-609 BC.
As in Amos, Israel is not left out of the day, and because of Israel’s sin, the prospect
is bleak, not joyous.
The great day of the Lord is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the
Lord is bitter, the mighty man cries aloud there. A day of wrath is that day, a day of
distress and anguish, a day of rain and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a
day of clouds and thick darkness, at day of trumpet blast and battlecry against the
fortified cities and against the lofty battlements (Zeph. 1:14-16).
New Testament Application of Old Testament Usage
At least two references to the day of the Lord in the Old Testament point forward to
New Testament times.
Joel 2:28-32 speaks of the days “afterward,” or “in the last days” (Acts 2:17), in which
God will pour out his Spirit upon all, in which people of all ages, social strata, and genders
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will be the recipient of miraculous visitations, and in which whoever calls on the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Peter says explicitly that Joel was talking about the outpouring of the
Spirit upon the apostles on the day of the Pentecost immediately following Christ’s
resurrection:
This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel (Acts 2:16). In that section of
prophecy, these words appear:
And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood, and
fire, and vapour of smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into
blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: and it shall come to pass
that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved (Joel 2:30-32; Acts
2:19-21).
Premillennialists make this, and all references to the day of the Lord, refer to the end-
time, to the second coming of Christ, This position is surely made untenable, however, by
Peter’s plain statement, “This is that.” Others see “the great and notable day of the Lord”
here as the destruction of Jerusalem in AD. 70 by the Romans under Titus. The signs in
heaven become, then, apocalyptic imagery, as is used in the Old Testament in regard to
Babylon’s and Edom’s fall, as mentioned earlier; and even as used by the Lord himself
regarding the destruction of Jerusalem (Matt. 24:29-34).3 This View has the virtue of
bringing the passage’s fulfillment at least into the generation to which Peter applies the
prophecy. However, there is nothing else in either context (Joel or Acts) to bring to mind the
destruction of Jerusalem. Another possibility is that the day of the Lord in this passage is the
establishment of the kingdom and the outpouring of the Spirit occurring on that day of
Pentecost. It fits Peter‘s “this is that." And there were signs in heaven above and on earth
beneath, including the sun being turned to darkness, at Christ’s crucifixion, just “before that
great and notable day” when the Spirit was manifest and the kingdom began.
The Old Testament closes with a prophecy related to the day of the Lord.
Behold, I send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord
comes. And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of
children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the [and with a curse (Mal. 4:4-5).
The New Testament consistently applies the “Elijah” of this verse to John the Baptist.
Both this passage and Isaiah 4023-5 (“a voice crying in the wilderness”), quoted by John the
Baptist himself to explain his own mission, emphasize the work of John as forerunner to the
one who is to come, who is called “the Lord.” In the announcement by the angel to Zechariah
the priest of the coming birth of John, two phrases allude to this prophesy of Malachi: “And
he will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah,” and, “to turn the hearts of the fathers
to their children” (Luke 1:17).
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Later, Jesus’ disciples asked him regarding his promised resurrection, “Why then do
the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” Jesus replied that Elijah had already come, and
did so in such terms that the disciples understood him correctly to have been talking about
John the Baptist (Matt. 1329-13; Mark 9:9-13).
This New Testament quotation indicates that Jesus understood Malachi’s day of the
Lord to relate to the first coming of Christ, the earthly ministry, rather than to the second
coming at the end of the world. Jesus could be applying it to the beginning of the kingdom
on Pentecost (compare Mark 921, same context). Some scholars understand it as referring to
the destruction of Jerusalem in AD. 70. But since John the Baptist is the Elijah who was to
come, then the Lord’s coming in the same passage must be that coming which John the
Baptist came to announce, not the one at the end of all things.
In the premillennial scheme of things, the day of the Lord is thought of as almost
always referring to the end-time. C. I. Scofield says,
The day of Jehovah (called, also, “that day, ” and ”the great day”) is that lengthened
period of time beginning with the return of the Lord in glory. and ending with the
purgation of the heavens and the earth by fire prepatory to the new heavens and the
new earth.
Another writer says,
“Day of the Lord, " an eschatological term referring to the consummation of God’s
kingdom and triumph over his foes and deliverance of his people. It begins at the
second coming and will include the final judgment.
If the exegesis suggested to this point in this lecture is valid, a matter readers or
hearers must determine for themselves, then these definitions do not hold true, at least for the
Old Testament usages we have examined.
The Old Testament passage most frequently used by premillennialists to establish the
eschatological meaning they prefer of the phrase is Zechariah 14.
Behold, a day of the Lord is coming, when the spoil taken from you will be divided
in the midst of you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and
the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women ravished; half of the
city shall go into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the City.
Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day
of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives which lies before
Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west
by a very wide valley; so that one half of the Mount shall withdraw northward, and
the other half southward. And the valley of my mountains shall be stopped up, for the
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valley of the mountains shall touch the side of it; and you shall flee as you fled from
the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king (f Judah. Then the Lord your God will
come, and all the holy ones with him (Zechariah 14:1-5).
Before a literal and, therefore, eschatological (end of the world) interpretation is

pressed upon this passage, however, some facts need to be considered.
The rest of the chapter describes what will be “on that day.” Included are the keeping
of Old Testament Jewish festivals, such as the feast of tabernacles (14:16-19), and the
offering of animal sacrifices at “the house of the Lord” (14:20-21). Are we to understand that
this passage is not to be pressed as literal, or are we to understand that Christ’s “once for all
offering” (Hebrews 10:10) is to be again replaced by the sacrifice of animals which cannot
take away sin (Hebrews 10:4)? Surely, we must see that the passage is not to be understood
literally.
The second part of Zechariah, beginning with chapter 9, is admittedly difficult to

understand. It is surely not without significance, however, that what New Testament allusions
there are to the section relate it to the first coming of Christ, his earthly ministry and its
immediate accomplishments, rather than to the second coming. The section begins with the
prophecy of the king coming on an ass, fulfilled in “the triumphant entry” in the last week of
Jesus’ earthly life (Zech. 9:9; Matt. 21:5; John 12:15). The prophecy, “They shall look on me
whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn,” interpreted premillennially as referring to
the second coming, is quoted by John and specifically applied to those who saw him hanging
on the cross (Zech. 12:10; John 19:37). Other examples include Zechariah 13:7 fulfilled in
Matthew 26:31, and possibly Zechariah 11:12-13 fulfilled in Matthew 27:9.
Although it is not specifically cited in the New Testament, one other verse from this
section also seems to show Zechariah is speaking of what Christ was to accomplish in his
first coming and establishment of the church rather than at his second coming:
On that day there shall be a fountain opened for the house of David and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem to cleanse them from sin and uncleanness (Zech. 13:1).
What is this fountain? Surely it is the one of which the poet sang.
There is a fountain filled with blood

Drawn from Immanuel’s veins,
And sinners plunged beneath that flood
Lose all their guilty stains.
That blood was shed on the cross at his first coming. His second coming will be for
another purpose.
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And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was
offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the
second time without sin unto salvation (Heb. 9:2 7-28).
In summary, in Old Testament usage there is more than one day of the Lord. Any day
of natural calamity, or of defeat and destruction from battle which is deemed to be from the
Lord as a result of his righteous wrath is, for that nation, “the day of the Lord.” In some
instances the phrase is applied in the New Testament to the events connected with the first
coming of Christ, his death, resurrection, and ascension to the right hand of God to begin his
reign over his kingdom. Perhaps it also sometimes includes the destruction of Jerusalem in
70 A.D., which brought a de facto end to the Jewish system, which God had ended ale jure
at the cross.
The primary emphases of the Old Testament prophets as they wrote about the day of
the Lord are these: ( l) The absolute certainty of its coming; there is no escape (Amos 5:19);
(2) The neamess of it (Eze. 30:3; Isa. 13:6; Joel 1:15); (3) Terror and absolute destruction
(Joel 1:15; Amos 5: 15); (4) Extends to the nations beyond Israel (Isa. 2:12-16; Obed. 15);
(5) Includes Israel, too, in the destruction, when Israel turns from God to sin (Amos 5:18-20;
Joel 211-2).6
No references in the Old Testament clearly and specifically using the “day of the Lor
" to refer to Christ’s second coming are found.
New Testament Usage
There are only two occurrences of the exact phrase, “the day of the Lord in the New
Testament. Both clearly refer to the second coming of Christ and final judgment.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night: in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall melt with fervent hear, and
the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up (1! Pet. 3:10).
But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For
yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.
For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them,
as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape (l Thess. 5:1-3).
A great variety of other phrases, some very similar, are found. “The day of Christ” is
used in II Peter 3:12 obviously referring to the same thing as “the day of the Lord” in verse
10. In 11 Thessalonians Paul is referring to the same event as I Thessalonians 5 and uses
“that day” (1:10) and “the day of Christ” (2:2).
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A frequent motif in the New Testament passages using “that day" and similar
expressions is judgment, both in the sense of punishment for the wicked and reward of the
faithful:
Many shall say unto me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?
and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many marvelous works?
And then will I profess unto them, 1 never knew you: depart from me, ye that work
iniquity (Matt. 7:22-23).
Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also
that love his appearing (II Tim. 4:8).
Other passages using some form of a “day” phrase and emphasizing judgment,
especially condemnation, are Matthew 11:22,24; Mark 6:11; Luke 10:12; Matthew 12:36;
John 12:48; Acts 17:31; Romans 25,16; 1 Peter 2:9; 327,10; Revelation 6:17; 16:14.8
Other passages emphasizing reward, or a consummation to be hoped for, are Luke

6:23; I Corinthians 1:8; 5:5; 11 Corinthians 1:14; Philippians 126,10; 2:16; 11 Timothy
l:12,18; 428', I Peter 3:12; [John 4:17.
Another frequent motif for such passages is the uncertainty as to time of “the day."
This is emphasized in Matthew 24:36; Mark 13:22; Luke 17:31; 21:34; 1 Thessalonians 522-
4; 11 Thessalonians 2:2.
John almost always in his gospel uses the term “the last day” and usually in speaking
of being “raised up at the last day.” See John 6:37,40,44,54; 11:24.
One passage, Luke 17:24, speaks of “the Son of Man in his day” to emphasize the
Lord’s coming will be visible to all, not secret or invisible.
The preceding analysis leaves only Hebrews 10:25 of “the day” passages
unassigned:9 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is;
but exhorting one another: and so much the more as ye see the day approaching.” This “day”
has been variously interpreted as the first day of the week (the day of assembly), the time of
the destruction of Jerusalem, and the time of the second coming. To interpret “the day” as
“the day of assembly” does not fit the sentence structure. The Hebrew writer is not saying,
“Do not forsake the assemblies, but rather encourage one another day-by-day as you happen
to see one another on the street or in the market place to be present next Sunday.” He is
saying, “Do not forsake the assemblies, but rather assemble so that in the assemblies you
may encourage one another in regard to the approaching day.” The approaching day, then, is
best understood as either the day of Jerusalem’s coming destruction or the final day, the end
of the world.
If our preceding analyses are correct, the expression “the day” and “that day,” when
the context does not give a contextual antecedent, almost always refers to the last day, the
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second coming. Some argue against that here on the grounds that one cannot “see” the second
coming of Christ approaching, since no one knows the time of it. It is fair to say, however,
that one may “see” the passage of time, and certainly, whatever the date is, every day passing
brings it one day nearer!
It is also worthy of note that the part of the Matthew 24 discourse dealing with the
destruction of Jerusalem consistently uses “those days” (plural). Only when he begins to
speak of the second coming does he use “that day” (singular).
New Testament writers, therefore, consistently refer to Christ’s second coming,

judgment, and end of the world with phrases like the day of the Lord, the day of Christ, the
day, and that day.
Conclusion
The day of the Lord is a time God acts to bring judgment to the wicked and to the
enemies of his people, and to bring vindication and salvation to his faithful remnant. In the
Old Testament, it usually refers to a day in history in which God uses other nations or national
calamities as agents of his wrath. The term is also used by the prophets to speak of Christ’s
coming to establish his kingdom, applied consistently in the New Testament to his first
coming and earthly ministry, not his second coming.
The New Testament also speaks of a day of the Lord, also a day of judgment and
salvation, but gives emphasis to one at the end of time when Christ will come “the second
time” (Heb. 9:28) to “judge the world in righteousness” (Acts 17:31).
In both Testaments, the day may be either “a blessed hope” to be eagerly awaited, or
a “certain fearful looking forward to of judgment” to be feared and dreaded, depending on
the person addressed. The point is,
But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven,
neither the Son, but the Father. Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when
the time is. For the Son of man is as a man taking afar journey, who left his house,
and gave authority to his servants, and to every man his work, and commanded the
porter to watch. Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house
cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning; Lest coming
suddenly he find you sleeping. And what 1 say unto you I say unto all, Watch (Mark
13:32-37).
of Last Things.” Cecil May, Jr.: The Day of the Lord. Pages 124-132.
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THE LAST DAYS
(John T. Smithson)
Few thoughts are more sobering and few biblical topics more challenging than those
dealing with the end of the world. The concept of “the last days” suggests a definite time
with a definite end. For an unknown specific generation, the last days will be a literal reality.
For every generation, in a practical sense, all days are the last days. No man is more than the
length of his own lifetime away from knowing his eternal destiny. Should we die today, it
would not matter to our souls if the world continued on for another millennium or more. So
each man’s life is, for him, the last days.
The Bible speaks with authority about the end of all things, the return of Christ, about
judgment, and eternity. Such passages as Matthew 24 and 25, Mark 13, Luke 12:35-48,
17:22-37, 19:11-27, and 21:5-36 in the Gospels and [Thessalonians 4:13-18, 5:1-1 1, [1
Thessalonians 2:1-12, I Peter 4:7-10, H Peter 313-1 1, II Timothy 3:1«5, and Jude 17-19 in
the epistles all relate to these timeless topics. Our responsibility is to be aware of these
teachings and to be prepared in light of them.
The “last days” and the “second coming of Christ” are actually different topics but
obviously closely related. To speak of the last days is to assume one actual “last” day. And
knowing what is reserved for that last day affects how the days preceding it should be lived.
It is our purpose in this study to concentrate on the last days and how we should live them.
Obviously, the Lord’s return, His judgment, and the reality of eternity enter into the picture
since they give definition and meaning to the last days.
The Basic Texts
The major passages in the Gospels dealing with the last days are chapters 24 and 25
of Matthew and the parallel passages in Mark 13 and Luke 21. As Jesus’ disciples point out
to Him the buildings of the temple, He answers them that every stone will ultimately be
thrown down (Matt. 24:1-2). The disciples soon come to Him privately asking questions for
clarification, and immediately they and all subsequent believers are faced with the need to
hear and understand properly.
The disciples actually ask three questions on two different topics. They want to know
“when will this be?" and “what will be the sign of your coming and [what will be the sign]
of the close of the age?” (Matt. 24:3). So the disciples actually ask about two separate events
(the destruction of the temple and the Lord 5 return to earth) while possibly connecting the
two as one in their own minds Jesus answer(s) must therefore be seen in light of the questions
they actually asked.
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At first the Lord speaks to the question of the destruction of the temple and of the city
of Jerusalem. Apparently, this answer continues until verse 34 of chapter 24. Bob Hendren
sees this as the proper division of the passage as does Jack Lewis.1 The things described prior
to verse 34 relate to the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple. Although these
events described in Matthew 2424-34 have often been applied by well-meaning interpreters
to the end of the world, they more obviously fit the fall of Jerusalem. As brother Lewis
reminds us, the urgency of fleeing to the mountains (vv. 16~18) could not relate to the second
coming since when that happens such flight will not be possible. Also, the special problems
of pregnant women and nursing mothers would be irrelevant, as would be the season of the
year and the day of the week.2 Bible students obviously need to handle the Word properly in
such a passage as this. There may well be parallels between Jerusalem’s fall and the end of
the world (for instance, what age is without false teachers, wars, rumors of wars, famines,
and earthquakes?), but the first part of Matthew 24 relates to the former event.
Jesus then says, “But of that day . . ." (Matt. 24:36), making the transition for the
subject of Jerusalem’s destruction to His own return to earth. This is made clear by His
reference in the next verse to “the coming of the Son of man.” It is at this point that we begin
to deal specifically with our topic of the “last days.”
Brother Bob Hendren, in his fine book Life Without End, says that our attitudes and
actions in living in the last days are (l) responsibility, (2) alertness, and (3) confident hope.3
I find it difficult and not very necessary to improve upon this basic analysis, but I will add
the need to maintain stability of faith and to prepare to give individual account before God.
Responsibility Enjoined
It is obvious from the Lord‘s continuing comments in Matthew 24 and 25 that He

expects His people to be responsible and active until His return. Speaking of the faithful and
wise servant with specific duties, He says, “Blessed is that servant whom his master when he
comes will find so doing (Matt. 24:46). The following chapter contains the parable of the
talents in which each servant is given a certain amount to employ in the master’s absence.
The men who were active and productive were blessed and rewarded at his return, whereas
the unproductive servant was called “wicked and slothful” (Matt. 25:14-30). Clearly the Lord
does not expect or approve His servants’ withdrawal from responsible daily living as they
wait for His return. Rather, He expects at His return to find them busily engaged in the
business of life and service.
This point was not readily understood by some in the Thessalonian church. Possibly
because they anticipated the imminent return of the Lord, some had lapsed into idleness. Paul
rebukes such behavior sharply, commanding the brethren to keep away from such members
and citing his and his colleagues” example of industry in their presence (II Thess. 3:3-15).
He had earlier urged this same church “to work with your hands” (I Thess. 4:11) while
assuring them of the certainty of the Lord’s return (I Thess. 4:13-18).
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Peter strikes a similar chord in his first letter. Noting that “the end of all things is at
hand" therefore necessitating a sane and sober prayer life, he urges “above all” that love for
one another be unfailing. Hospitality should be generously practiced and the various gifts
should be employed for the good of one another and for the glory of God (1 Pet. 4:7-1 1).
Clearly, even during the last days, God’s people are to be actively engaged in service to Him,
to the brethren, and to the world. Returning to the basic text in Matthew 25 we find the Lord
basing the judgment on such actions as benevolence and visitation (Matt. 25:31-46). Even
though the end of the age is closer now than ever before, it is not a call nor an excuse for
slackness. Instead, it is a challenge to responsible living.
Watch
Having turned from the fall of the temple to the subject of His own return, Jesus urges
His followers to watchfulness and alertness. Part of the danger of the last days is their lack
of uniqueness. Jack Lewis comments, “Having dealt with the temple, Jesus now turns
attention to the signs of the second coming and in essence says that there are to be none. ”4
Rather, the world condition at the time of His coming will be as it was in the days of Noah.
Prior to the flood men and women were engaged in such common daily activities as
eating, drinking, and marrying. “So, will be the coming of the Son of man,” the Lord promises
(Matt. 25:37-39). Men and women will be working at such routine activities as plowing and
grinding in the last days. Carrying the picture of suddenness further, the Lord compares His
return to the actions of a thief who comes unexpectedly in the night (Matt. 25:42-44). The
impact of all this is to stress the suddenness and the certainty of His return.
What a contrast between the Lord‘s description of the last days and those given by
men. Whereas the Lord urges alertness in the last days, some modern authors actually teach
the opposite. Bob Hendren notes the various systems dispensational writers have created
concerning the last days and the Lord’s return in which they suggest that the end cannot occur
yet since the three and a half years of tribulation haven’t occurred, the reconstituted Roman
Empire hasn’t been formed, or the Anti-Christ has not made his appearance. “Unwittingly,
this type of interpretation destroys the need for alertness," brother Hendren says. Any theory
or system which disallows the Lord’s return until certain specific world events have occurred
is totally opposite to the Lord’s comparison of a “thief in the night.” I well remember the
Indiana carpenter working on our congregation’s educational wing and sharing with me his
dream of someday helping to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. His understanding of the end
of time necessitated the temple ’s presence before the Lord could return and judgment take
place. To him, the Lord could not return until the temple was rebuilt. Such a theory can
actually lull a person into a false sense of security when he needs to be on the alert.
One of the clearest passages on the suddenness of the end of time is I Thessalonians
5:1-11. Paul also uses the figure of the thief in the night to which he adds the further analogy
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of a woman expecting a child. In each case, suddenness is the point. The thief strikes when
he is not expected. The labor process, although itself expected, also begins with suddenness.
Paul urges us to alertness by reminding us that we are not in darkness that we should be
surprised.
Peter concurs in this point, again with the image of the thief, in II Peter 328-10. The
dramatic conclusion to the world’s history will be as the heavens pass away with a loud noise,
the elements dissolve with fire, and the earth and its works burn up. Surely in light of such
truths, men should live soberly and alertly as the end of time approaches.
Do Not Be Led Astray
Another reason for alertness in the last days is the presence of scoffers. Just as many
would be trying to lead people astray before the destruction of Jerusalem (Matt. 2424-6), so
will false guides appear in the last days. Peter attempts to stir up sincere minds by reminding
them of the words of the prophets and the Lord’s commands. He then adds:
First of all you must understand this, that scoffers will come in the last days with
scoffing, following their own passions and saying, “Where is the promise of his
coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things have continued as they were
from the beginning of creation." (II Pet. 3:3-5)
The apostle’s answer to the scoffers is that they have limited the Lord to human terms.
They have implied that the passing of time has weakened and nullified His promise. Peter
charges that they willfully ignore the fact that by God’s Word the world was first formed and
by that same Word is now being reserved for fiery judgment and destruction.
Jude agrees that scoffers will be present in the last days to challenge faith. He writes
in verses 17 through 19:
But you must remember, beloved, the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus
Christ; they said to you, “In the last time there will be scoffers, following their own
ungodly passions.” It is these who set up divisions, worldly people, devoid of the
Spirit.
A third New Testament writer mentions the presence and challenge of ungodly men
in the last days. Paul warns Timothy in his second letter to the young evangelist:
But understand this. that in the last days there will come times of stress. For men will
be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their
parents, ungrateful, unholy, inhuman, implacable. slanderers. proligates, fierce, haters
of good, treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than
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lovers of God, holding the form of religion but denying the power of it. Avoid such
people. (II Timothy 3:1-5)
The Christian needs to have discernment and strength to live faithfully in the last days,
especially if the Lord continues to delay His coming.
Confident Assurance
Although the thought of the end of the world has an awesome and terrifying effect,
the Christian faces it with full confidence and assurance (1 Pet. 123-5). The promise of the
Lord’s return is a present comfort to the believer. The certainty of death, judgment, and
eternity only terrify those who are unprepared. The believer, weary of present toils and trials
and anxious for something better, prays with John “Come. Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).
Paul reminds us of the staying power of hope in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. Those

Christians who have died are described as being “asleep" and in God’s safe-keeping. (What
other faith or philosophy can dismiss death in such a way?) Paul promises that those who
have gone on should not be a cause of grief, since God will bring them with Him. Those who
remain throughout the last days will in no way precede the dead in Christ. At the Lord’s
descent from heaven with the trumpet sound, those who have died in Him and the faithful
who remain on earth will be caught up together and will “always be with the Lord."
“Therefore,” Paul says, “comfort one another with these words." All of these promises stand
in contrast to the grief of “those who have no hope.”
The Christian, then, faces the certainty of the end with confident anticipation. This
attitude is in stark contrast to the terror the end of the world will bring to unbelievers. The
soul’s present condition and state of preparation determines one’s attitude toward the final
day. I well remember my sophomore English literature teacher at David Lipscomb College
who began each class session by calling the roll and asking each student to answer “Prepared”
0r “Unprepared.” My level of comfort or dread in that class was directly related to my status
of preparation. I can also remember several occasions much earlier in life when my mother
would say “Wait until your Dad gets home.” If I had made an especially good grade in school
that day or had done something praiseworthy at home, I anxiously awaited his coming. But
(as was more often the case), if I was in need of discipline, his coming home took on a totally
different light. My condition determined my attitude toward his arrival. Similarly, my
spiritual condition determines my attitude toward the Lord’s return. For the guilty it is a
threat; for the righteous it is a promise.
Preparation and Accountability
Jesus draws a vivid verbal picture of the final judgment scene at the end of the last
days. Obviously, men need to be prepared for the final day, and obviously, they can only
prepare in advance of the final day. This means we live the last days in a manner which
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equips us to give individual account in judgment. The attitude of watchfulness already
discussed is not just watching for Him to return but also watching our own conduct in the
meantime.
The servant who became lax in his behavior was caught unprepared, was punished,
and consigned to the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 24:48-51). The virgins
awaiting the bridegroom all slumbered and slept at his delay-the foolish girls were shut out
of the feast not for sleeping, but for being unprepared (Matt. 2521-13). The wicked and
slothful servant who had received one talent gave an account, but it was an account of fear
and faithlessness; and he lost even that little which he had (Matt. 25:24-30). The “goats” on
the left hand tried to answer from ignorance- “Lord, when did we see thee hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison?” but they also went into eternal punishment. The
last days are clearly days for careful preparation for personal accountability.
Conclusion
No man knows when the end of time will be. But we should all know that it is near.
For all practical purposes the end of the world is no farther from any one of us than the day
of his own death, since nothing can then be done to change eternal destiny. The Lord has
promised definitely to return. He has warned us in His Word that time will someday cease.
He has told us that the last days are like any other days; men will be working, sleeping, eating,
drinking, marrying, giving in marriage-doing all the normal, typical activities of life. He has
told us that false teachers and scoffers will be present to question and challenge our faith. He
has said that a spirit of lawlessness will come, as Paul describes in II Thessalonians 2. All of
these conditions can be seen today by the discerning mind.
The important thing is not to try and set a date for the last day, but to set our hearts
right. The wise thing is not to work out elaborate systems for predicting the end, but to work
out our own salvation with fear and trembling. God’s grace has delayed His coming, thereby
giving men time to repent and prepare. May we wisely use the last days to prepare for the
one last day.
of Last Things.” John T. Smithson: The Last Days. Pages 184-189
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Error
ERROR
537
THE MEANING AND SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TERM "THE LAST DAYS" IN
NEW TESTAMENT PROPHECY
(Brian Abshire)
The debate between the various eschatological views extends all the way back to the
first century heretic Cerenthius' combination of Ebionite theology, Gnostic speculation and
sensual chilianism. Since that time, though certain positions have been recognised as heresy
(and hence vigorously condemned), from Augustine's germinal Amillennialism, through
Puritan Postmillennialism to even Darby's Dispensational Premillennialism, the historic
church has not made eschatology itself a test of orthodoxy. Sincere men coming to the same
passages have arrived at different conclusions. Christianity has thus made room for a variety
of views. In different ages, some views have often enjoyed more popularity than others. But
the issue must never be "which view has the most proponents" but rather, "which view best
interprets the Scriptural data in a proper manner".
This principle is especially important when considering the New Testament phrase,
"the Last Days". Various attempts have been made to determine the prime referent with
varying degrees of success. Furthermore, the resulting interpretations have profound effects
on the development of the rest of one's eschatology. Perhaps the most common popular
understanding of the "last days" is the futurist position that understands it to refer to the
Second Coming of Christ. Dispensational Premillennialism understands the phrase purely in
reference to the brief period of time before the second coming (Ryrie 152). Historic
Premillennialism and traditional Amillennialism often accept a modified futurist view which
equates the entire New Testament era from the resurrection of Christ to the Second Coming
as the "Last Days" (Hoekma 152). "The term is not to be thought of as a single calendar day,
but as the entire period that will witness the final redemptive visitation of God in Christ"
(Ladd 555).
Various Views Rejected
The key passage in determining the meaning of the "Last Days" is Matthew 24, the
Olivet Discourse. While other passages hint, suggest and offer tantalizing glimpses, Matthew
24 lays out a specific prophetic agenda. But just what is the content of the Olivet prophecies?
There are four major approaches; (1) Matthew 24 speaks to the events leading up to a future
Great Tribulation which will occur shortly before the Second Coming of Christ, (2) Matthew
24 refers both to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Coming of Christ through the
medium of "prophetic perspective" or "dual referent", (3) Matthew 24 speaks specifically of
the Second Coming which actually occurred in 70AD (Groh vii) and (4) Matthew 24 speaks
primarily to the destruction of Israel in 70AD and does not address the Second Coming of
Christ at all (at least until verse 36 which may mark a transition from the destruction of
Jerusalem to the Lord's Return).
Possibility number three is rejected immediately because the orthodox Christian

church has always believed and taught the literal second coming of Christ. While history and
tradition do not replace Scripture, the witness of the entire church should be given
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considerable weight here. If the doctrine were true, then surely someone, somewhere would
have accepted and taught it. Instead, this view is associated primarily with heretics. Yet even
so there are some today who hold to this view who are evangelicals with a high view of
Scripture (Groh ix).
The Dispensational Premillennialist proposal necessitates convoluted reasoning to

escape the conundrum caused by the New Testament authors writing as if they saw
themselves living in "the last days" (e.g. 1 Thess 4:17, 2 Thess 1:7, Jas 5:3, 1 Jn 2:18, 1 Ptr
1:5,20, Jude 18 etc.). Thus either the authors were wrong (i.e. expecting and teaching that
something would happen which then did not happen) or much of the New Testament was
incomprehensible (or at least inapplicable) until fairly recently. The cultural implications are
even more profound. If the "last days" refers to the end of the gospel dispensation and are
characterised by spreading apostasy, persecution of the church and the growth of the
parasitical kingdom of Satan, then the church can expect to see no significant cultural
expression of Christianity as time progresses. Rushdoony notes that such a pessimistic
understanding of the hope of fulfilling the Great Commission forces the church to adopt a
sort of Manichaean dualism; i.e. the necessity of withdrawing from the inherently evil world
of darkness in order to retain one's own purity (Kik ix).
Traditional Amillennialists, who often adopt a mixture of a futurist and preterist

hermeneutic, also face a similar dilemma. While acknowledging that one referent has to be
the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD, they are yet faced with the problem of the expectation
and delay of the Parousia (Berkhof 700). Borrowing a concept from liberals such as Strauss,
Schweitzer and Dodd, a view known as "Realized Eschatology" has become widely accepted
(Hoekema 292). Essentially, this view is summarized by the concept of "already" but "not
yet" (Hoekema 14); i.e. a partial fulfilment now of a coming eschatological reality. The "signs
of the times" were not intended to provide a specific eschatological time table, but rather to
warn of conflicts to be expected throughout history until the Parousia (Ferguson 230). Thus,
Jesus in the Olivet discourse is both talking about the coming judgment on Israel, as well as
his own Second Coming. By juxtaposing the two, the early church (including Paul, Peter and
John), did not clearly differentiate between an imminent judgment on Israel and the Second
Coming of the Lord Jesus. They therefore saw them as contemporaneous. Thus, though there
is some relationship to 70AD, the prime referent of the phrase, "the last days," is, again, the
Parousia.
Several objections to this view need to be considered. First of all, the terminology
itself argues against this position. Last days are exactly that, a brief period of time at the end
of an age. Yet the "last days" have now lasted almost as long as the entire age from Abraham
to Jesus! Though one might stretch the period for a few decades, surely not 20 centuries!
Secondly, the futurist view implies that the writers of Holy Scripture were implicitly
confused because they did not clearly differentiate between the Second Coming and the
judgment of Israel. This view has fuelled Liberal scepticism concerning the authority of
Scripture. Even the Liberals see that Jesus taught, and the disciples clearly expected, Matthew
24 to be fulfilled in their lifetimes. Thus the futurist view requires some fancy foot work to
avoid saying that Jesus made a mistake (if the prime referent is to the Second Coming). In
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the same way, the context of the Olivet discourse is clearly the destruction of Jerusalem in
70AD. In Matthew 23:29 Jesus pronounces judgment on the Pharisees with the time table set
in verse 36. He then weeps for the coming desolation of Jerusalem in verses 37-39. In 24:1-
3 Jesus predicts the coming destruction of the temple and answers the disciples question when
this will happen. Everything from that point on is Jesus answer to their question regarding
the destruction of Jerusalem.
Because of the prophetic language used in 27-31, the Olivet Discourse is assumed to
refer to the Second Coming. Since this event "obviously" did not happen in 70AD, the entire
passage must therefore be manipulated to make the Second Coming fit into the schema of
events that Jesus details. Premillennial Dispensationalists go so far as to require a new
temple, new sacrifices, new abomination of desolation, etc. in order to replay 70AD all over
again. While the "double referents" do not necessarily have to go quite so far, even so, the
interpretations sometime stretch one's credulity. It is a difficult passage to interpret.
Yet Jesus Himself gives a temporal marker in verse 34 that specifically says that all
these things will happen during the lifetime of "this generation". All sorts of exegetical and
hermeneutical gymnastics are attempted in order to get around the clear implications of this
passage (i.e. generation really means "race", the generation that sees the "fig tree" etc.). But
the text seems clear that whatever is happening in Matthew 24 is supposed to happen
completely and fully within the lifetime of the people Jesus is addressing. This is the normal
sense of the terms. However if the Olivet Discourse was supposed to be fulfilled during the
lifetimes of the disciples, and if it does refer to the Second Coming, then Jesus did make a
mistake and the disciples were confused. Obviously this cannot be accepted by evangelicals.
Thus another solution must be found.
This paper will postulate that the phrase "the last days", "end times" etc. primarily
refers to that period of time between the resurrection of Jesus Christ and God's final
judgement and destruction of Israel in 70AD. The "last days" is not the brief period of time
before the Second Coming, nor the entire 2000+ years since the Ascension. The "Last Days"
were the final days of the Jewish dispensation culminating in the first judicial act of the Lord
Jesus Christ ruling the nations. It will be shown that the expectation of "coming" in the Olivet
Discourse (and other passages) referred to the coming of Christ in judgement on Israel and
the end of that age (as opposed to His Second Coming at the end of the world). The Apostles
and early church would have therefore have understood the phrase "last days" as a reference
to the period of time lasting to 70AD. The individual instances of the phrase "the last days"
will then be demonstrated to have their best interpretation within a preterist framework.
Finally, the implications of this view will be briefly examined.
An Alternative Interpretation
In Matthew 24:30, the tribes of the earth will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds
with power and great glory. Many immediately conclude this is a clear reference to the
Second Coming. This view is so common that it has actually skewed the translation. For
example, it can be argued that the phrase "tribes of the earth" is better translated "tribes of
the land" since this is a common referent to the land of Israel (Abbot-Smith 91). Thus it is
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not the entire earth that will mourn, but rather the tribes of Israel. This changes the entire
perspective on the passage. If it is the whole earth that will mourn, this leads to a universal
event. If it is Israel that will mourn, it refers to something that could be quite local.
In the same way the phrase, "the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky" is
literally rendered, "and then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven" (Chilton 100).
This translation makes two important points: First, the location spoken of is heaven, not just
the sky; and secondly, it is not the sign which is in heaven but rather the Son of Man. This
retranslation is the only way to make sense of the prophecy from Daniel 7:13 which is quoted
here. In the Daniel passage, the perspective is not on earth but the throne room of Heaven.
The ancient of Days is sitting on His throne and the Son of Man is presented to Him and
receives from Him power and rule and dominion. Daniel 7:13ff and Matthew 24:30 are not
prophecies of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ but of His Ascension and Kingly
inauguration. This majestic event is not for us a future event because it occurred at the
Ascension! Jesus right now sits at the right hand of the Father and right now rules heaven
and earth (Acts 7:56).
The Use of "Coming" in the Old Testament
Contemporary Christians, influenced by 150 years of millenarian and adventist

agitation, are preconditioned to interpret the term "coming" almost exclusively in regards to
the Second Coming. Yet the Scriptures themselves do not necessarily use the term in that
way. Though there indeed will be a physical, bodily return of Christ at the fulfilment of time
(e.g. Acts 1:11), Christ can also said to "come" many times in history. It can be shown that
the term does not necessitate a physical appearance, but is rather a metaphor for Christ
exercising His power and dominion over the world and exercising His right to judge the
nations. For example, the phrase "coming on clouds" is a well known Old Testament term
for God coming in salvation to His elect and judgment on His enemies. (Psa 104:3, Isa 19:1,
Nah 1:3). "God's coming on the clouds of heaven is an almost commonplace Scriptural
symbol for His presence, judgment, and salvation" (Chilton, 102). For further development,
see Russell, page 251ff.
Regardless of one's view of a future earthly kingdom, all must agree that Jesus right
now rules the world and judges it temporally. "For the wrath of God is being revealed against
all the ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness"
(Rms 1:20). It is the Lord God who sets up kings and earthly powers (Jer 43:10, Rms 13:1).
It is the Lord who also judges those powers and removes their thrones (Psa 2:12, 9:4-5,19-
20, 10:16, 22:28, 47:8, 94:10, Hagg 2:22 etc.). In the same way, the term "Day of the Lord"
does not just refer to the final day of judgment that occurs at the end of time before the eternal
state. "...the Day of the Lord could designate a day in the immediate historical future when
God would visit His people in judgment..." as in Amos 5:18 and Isaiah 2:12ff (Ladd 554).
The Use of "Coming" in Revelation 2-3
Corollary evidence is found in the Seven Letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and
3. Jesus specifically warns/promises the churches in 2:5, 16, 3:3, 3:11 that He is coming soon.
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In each case, the context is coming in judgment. This judgment cannot be at the end of the
world since it involved activities occurring right up to the coming itself. It cannot refer to the
future at all because none of these churches now exist. While the Historicists argue that the
churches represent the entire panoply of Church history, none of them agree which church
represents which age. Even the best argument, that these churches are symbolic of the
problems of all churches in all ages, fails to do justice to the text itself. Seven historical
churches are encouraged, exhorted and warned of impending judgment. Jesus promises
specifically to come to 4 of them. Since He did not come to them physically, therefore His
coming cannot refer to His Second Coming. It must refer to something else. Since the term
is used of coming in judgment, therefore the simplest and best explanation is that Jesus is
here warning His churches of impending trials (most likely of 70AD and its earth-shaking
effects). (Note; This paper assumes a pre-70AD authorship for Revelation. While
acknowledging this as problematic, it should be remembered that the only external evidence
for a late date comes from a single quote from Irenaeus found in Eusebius which in itself is
linguistically ambiguous.)
Thus, Jesus as Lord of Heaven and Earth rules the nations with His rod of iron. He
visits the nations in time, rising up and setting down according to His good will. Whenever
He exercises His judicial powers in time, it can be said that He is "coming". The significance
of the coming in Matthew 24 is that the destruction of Jerusalem was the sign that all authority
had been given to Jesus and He was now exercising that authority by bringing about the
prophesied destruction of apostate Israel. By Jerusalem and the temple being destroyed (as
prophesied by Jesus), then all would know that Jesus was indeed Lord of Heaven and earth.
"...the Lord comes upon the clouds to the judgment of Jerusalem, as a manifest proof that we
are not to think merely of His coming at the last day, and that the words do not point to a
visible appearing" (Russell 39).
Heaven & Earth Shaking Terminology
Some may argue that the earth shaking, heavens trembling terminology here does not
fit 70AD. While a full analysis is beyond the meager scope of this paper, note that this is
typical prophetic imagery used throughout the Old Testament in regards to God bringing
judgment against a nation. It is especially relevant in regards to Israel because it was the end
of one age and the beginning of another. For comparisons see the following texts: Isaiah
13:9-10, 34:4, Amos 8:9, Ezekiel 32:7-8. In each instance, the same "heaven shaking"
phraseology is used to describe the judgment on a historical nation. In each case, God did do
just as He had promised, but the signs did not "literally" come true. This is figurative,
prophetic language used in the Scriptures to describe the cosmic judgment by the Ruler of
Creation. "What Jesus is saying in Matthew 24, therefore, in prophetic terminology
immediately recognizable by His disciples, is that the light of Israel is going to to be
extinguished; the Covenant nation will cease to exist. When the Tribulation is over, old Israel
will be gone (Chilton 100)."
There are of course other interpretive issues that need to be addressed; e.g. it can be
shown that the "angels" gathering the elect refers to the preaching of the gospel (i.e. angelos
can refer to either human or divine messengers, depending upon context). However, at this
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point enough evidence has been marshalled to warrant a re-examination of the use of the term
"last days" in other passages. It can be noted here that in historical narrative passages, the
disciples might not always have clearly understood the distinction between the impending
temporal judgment on Israel and the future second coming of Christ (cf. Acts 1:6). However,
in the didactic passages, it must be maintained that they knowingly taught that the imminent
judgment on Israel would usher in a new age.
The "Last Days" - The Disciples Expectation
The disciples fully understood that they were living in a time of transition between
one age and the age that was to come (Russell 255). The defining point between these ages
would be the outpouring of the covenant curses upon an apostate Israel. The first sign of
Israel's impending destruction was at Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came in power and gave
the gift of tongues. Contemporary debates about tongue speaking seldom address the
fundamental reason why God gave this gift in the first place. Tongue speaking was a
fulfilment of prophecy that God had removed His covenant from Israel and was about to
bring judgment against them. Paul specifically teaches this in 1 Corinthians 14:21 when he
quotes Isaiah 28:11:
"By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers will I speak to this people,
and even so they will not listen to me..."
The context of Isaiah 28 is the beginning of Covenantal judgment on Israel for her
apostasy and rebellion. It also includes a messianic prophecy concerning the corner stone.
But the implication is clear. As a final indication of His righteous wrath on a rebellious and
stiff necked people, God would speak to them in strange tongues. Hence Paul says in 1
Corinthians 14:22 that tongues are a sign for unbelievers. The unbelievers here are clearly
non-believing Jews.
Thus, at Pentecost, the judgment clock began ticking down on Israel's future. God had
abandoned them and was going to bring upon them the Covenant curses of Deuteronomy 28.
Paul clearly understood this, and so did Peter, since he quotes Joel 2:28-32. The Joel passage
(using the same prophetic, heaven shaking terminology as in Matthew 24) is a clear prophecy
of the coming judgment on Israel. The Apostles thus from the very beginning understood that
the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost and the gift of tongues were the definitive signs that
Israel's judgment was about to come. Thus, the Disciples would have had this understanding
in the back of their minds whenever they discussed future events. Israel was going to be
judged within their lifetimes. Jesus Himself would do so as an indication of His own rule and
authority (Matt 28:19-21). The coming of the Spirit ushered in a new age and a new covenant
(Jer 31:33-34). The disciples therefore understood that they were living in a transition period
between the judgment of the Old Covenant people and the New Covenant promises.
Specific Uses of "Last Days"
The specific phrase "last days" (or "latter times") occurs 9 times in the New Testament
in the writings of Paul, James, Peter, John and Jude. A careful investigation of each of the
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occurrences shows that in context, the best understanding must refer to the impending
judgment on Israel in 70AD. For example in 1 Timothy 3:14-4:6 Paul warns Timothy of the
importance of sound doctrine to the household of God because the Spirit has predicted that
in "later times" some will fall away from the faith (1 Tim 4:1). Paul tells him this so that he
can warn the brethren and if Timothy does so, he will be commended as a faithful servant of
Christ Jesus (1 Tim 4:6). But if the later times is in reference to a future event 2,000+ years
in the future, what is the point of Paul addressing the situation in Timothy's church? Likewise,
if the "later times" is in reference to the entire period of time between the First and Second
Coming, all he is really saying is that "this age is characterized by apostasy". This does not
make sense. Why warn of something that is to come, if it is already here and is characteristic
of the time?
Yet if the "later times" refers to the period up to the judgment on Israel, then it makes
good sense for Paul to issue this warning. As the time progresses and the judgment of Israel
grows closer, apostasy will grow greater and greater. Therefore do not be alarmed when men
desert you, or turn aside to foolish myths and genealogies, for all this has already been
prophesied and taken into consideration. It will not affect God's plan and it will soon be over.
Therefore, do not be afraid, warn the people, prepare them for what is going to shortly come
to pass and trust in God. This makes sense. For Paul to be warning Timothy of something
that will never happen to him or his people, or of a characteristic of an entire age does not fit
the context.
Similar language in 2 Timothy 3:1 requires a similar interpretation. Why should Paul
warn Timothy of future events that neither he nor his church would ever live to see? In the
same way if these were characteristic of the entire age, why specify "the last days". There is
also the problem of understanding how an entire age can be characterized by apostasy. From
what are the apostates apostatizing, if the entire 2,000+ period of time is already apostate?
One has to have growth and fruit in the kingdom before one can then have massive defections
from it. But if the entire age is characterized by such defections, when, where and how did
they ever join the kingdom in the first place? However, if the apostasy was in fact a brief
period at the end of a specific age (Matthew 24:10), then one can easily understand why
Timothy needed to be reminded of it.
In Hebrews 1:1-2 the reference is clearly to the time when the Apostles were living.
"God, after He spoke long ago...in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He
appointed heir of all things...". Here the reference is to the giving of Scripture, both Old and
New Testament. Since the Son was "appointed" heir at the Ascension, the speaking must
refer to the Spirit's work through the Apostles and therefore can be equated with Scripture.
The point is that Christ was giving Scripture in the "last days". There is no compelling reason
to suggest that this refers to anything except the period of time between His Ascension and
His judgment on Israel. One could make an argument that Hebrews was written post-70AD,
but the evidence for doing so is at best ambiguous. A better understanding is that the book
was written on the eve of the destruction which then makes 10:26ff perfectly clear.
James 5:1-3 also fits perfectly well within the context of an impending judgement on
Israel and makes no sense otherwise.
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"Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are come upon you.
Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth eaten. Your gold and your
silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh
like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasures."
James is warning the rich of a soon to come judgment. They are not to trust in their
material possessions. In fact, because they have done so, their very wealth will be a cause of
their destruction. The rich Jews had stored up their wealth in the "last days" and it would be
useless to them. This makes no sense unless it is a direct reference to the impending judgment
on Jerusalem. If the entire age is the "last days", then the prophecy here makes no sense.
People buy and sell and amass great wealth and leave this life in luxurious coffins. Granted
it does them no good in the age to come, but James is saying that it does them no good in the
"last days". However, if it refers to the coming judgment in 70AD it makes perfect sense. All
their pomp and circumstance and oppressive use of wealth and power would not prevent their
utter destruction. (One is reminded here of the Jews who tried to escape from Jerusalem
during the siege with some of their wealth by swallowing gold. Josephus records that when
the Roman solders discovered what they were doing, all fleeing Jews were murdered and
eviscerated on the spot in the hopes of finding booty.) Thus a "realized eschatology" and a
futurist application do not fit even reasonably well the historical context of James' remarks
while a 70AD interpretation fits perfectly.
The passage in 1 Peter 1:5 is a little less clear. Peter says that there is an imperishable
inheritance reserved in heaven "for you who are protected by the power of God through faith
for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time...". Here the phrase could be understood
as a reference to the Second Coming but it can be argued otherwise as well. In 70AD Israel
was destroyed, but the Christians living in Jerusalem were spared (they left the city when
Vespasian was called back to Rome). Furthermore, as Christ brought judgment against Israel,
He was revealed as indeed the Lord of Glory. Thus Israel's destruction was also the Christian
hope of salvation vindicated. Thus our salvation was revealed in 70AD. Yet even if this
explanation is not accepted and if it is insisted that this reference must be to the Second
Coming, please note that the term here is "last time" which can be equated with the "last
day". There is a Day of judgment coming at the end of the world (Matt 7:22, Rms 2:16, 1
Cor 3:13, 2 Tim 4:8 etc.). There is a final Day that is yet to come. Thus the reference here
could be well be to that Day, which still leaves the "last days" as a primary referent to the
period of time between 35-70AD.
The specific terminology here may also be significant. As opposed to "the last time"
in 1:5, Peter refers to the "last times" in 1:20 as existing during the lifetimes of his hearers.
The "last times" were clearly times that the original audience of Peter's letters were living.
The plural use of the term in 1:20 contrasts significantly with the singular use in 1:5. They
could well be speaking of two different events, using similar terminology (since one is a type
or prefiguring of the other; e.g. all temporal judgement is a down payment on hell).
The context in 2 Peter 3:3 is again a reminder from Peter to strengthen the disciples
concerning events they themselves were having to face. Peter is thus relating their experience
to a prophetic event.
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"Know this that in the last days mockers will come with their mocking, following after
their own lusts, and saying, "Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers
fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation...".
While it is commonly accepted to take this passage as a reference to the Second

Coming, the text itself does not require us to do so. The major reason for insisting on an end
of the world scenario is the "heavens shaking" terminology in verse 7. As noted before, this
same terminology is technically used in prophetic language to describe the cosmic events
occurring when God brings salvation/judgement. Peter may well be referring here not to the
end of the world, but the end of the Jewish age. Again, why else would he warn people of
things that were not in their future, or in any one else's future except those few living at the
end of the world? "He is patient about you...!"; a specific group of people Peter was
addressing with specific problems and specific needs.
The "last days" passage in 1 John 2:18 fits beautifully in the above scenario. The
internal evidence for assuming that John was written prior to 70AD is potent. He no longer
uses the phrase "last days" but instead says that it is the "last hour". No longer is the
consummation in even the near future, but rather John fully expected it to happen at any
moment. John specifically says that the antichrist has come (as had been prophesied). All
prophetic ground work has been laid. The promised event is about to happen. If John is
referring to the Second Coming then he was dead wrong. If he was implying some long period
of eschatological preparation, why speak in such imminent terms? But if the destruction of
Jerusalem was about to occur, if the land was invaded and the city about to be surrounded,
how much clearer could he make it? The 70AD scenario is the only one that really does
justice to John's sense of expectancy.
Finally, Jude 17-18 contains the last specific reference to the "last days".
"But you beloved ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the
apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, 'In the last time there shall
be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.' These are the ones who cause divisions,
worldly minded, devoid of the Spirit...".
Notice the tense of the verb. The promised mockers had already come and were
causing problems in the church. They were not a future problem to be encountered, but rather
a present reality. The "last time" had come and the church needed to be encouraged to endure
and to resist the promised apostasy. Does apostasy come in every age? Yes. Is it more
characteristic in some ages than others? Yes. It is characteristic of all ages? NO! As
mentioned earlier, if this is supposed to be the character of this age, how then is the New
Covenant any better than the Old? Our covenant is not like the one at Sinai, we have the Law
written on our hearts. The Biblical characteristic of the church is not a defeated organization
that barely manages to hold the loyalty of a few stalwart members but rather a victorious
army, marching to the gates of Hell! Greater is He who is in us than he who is in the world!
We are not a defeated people! Yes, there are times when the situation may be grim. But that
is not the characteristic of the age, but only of that brief period of time at the end of the last
age. That age ended 2,000 years ago. This age is an age of the wonderful victory of Christ
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over sin, death, Satan and his parasitical kingdom (Rms 16:20, Col 2:15, Hebs 2:14, 1 Jn 3:8,
2 Cor 2:14 etc.)
Conclusion
If the above reasoning is correct, then this will have profound effect on our concept
of Christianity and its relation to contemporary culture. Rather than defeatism being the
characteristic of this age, we ought to expect to see the Lord Jesus lead His church to victory.
The mindset that says that Christian progress in the world will be ultimately undermined by
an end times apostasy is no longer valid. Yes, apostasy and heresy come, but Christ is greater
than either and has already defeated and disarmed their ruler (Col 2:15). Christians ought to
expect the gospel to go forth with power, to meet the devils of this age and scatter them to
the pit. There is nothing that stands between the Christian church and the expectation of
victorious fulfilment of the Great Commission of Matthew 28:19-21 than our own obedience.
Some may complain that this would lead us to Postmillennialism. Though that
discussion is beyond the scope of this paper it must be answered, "so what?". Though now
largely out of favour in American evangelicalism, it ought to remembered that
Postmillennialism is the historic eschatological system of American Presbyterian and English
Reformed groups. In New England, Postmillennial Puritans settled the wilderness in hopes
of building "a city on a hill" which was further fuelled by the expectations of world wide
revival during the Great Awakening. In Northern Presbyterianism, Alexander, Both Hodges,
Warfield and Machen all taught general Postmillennialism as a part of the Princeton theology.
In the South, Postmillennialism was taught by such giants as Thornwell and Dabney (Kik 6).
A final objection is that our experience does not fit the doctrine. We do not see this
promised victory in the world, that our age is especially one of growing apostasy and
departures from the true faith and that the forces arrayed against the church seem
insurmountable. There are two quick responses to this objection. The first is that we need to
allow Scripture to interpret Scripture, not the headlines in the papers. We must place our faith
in the promises of God, not the fears of the enemy. We must take our eyes off the "giants in
the land" and keep them fully on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
The second reason why the church has not been more successful in seeing the
promised victory is because she has been disobedient. When called to trust and obey, we
encourage fear and dismay. When called to "Be holy for I am holy" we have settled for a
sentimental religion of pious affections and insipid doctrine. Christianity in the past 150 years
has been characterized by pietism and antinomianism. In some respects Enlightenment
Humanism flourished only because Christians accepted it on a presuppositional level.
Consequently, our faith has been undermined and the church's ability to meet the challenges
of the modern world undercut by a pessimistic eschatology. But to automatically concede
defeat, in fact to encourage it because of recent defeats is completely unwarranted. The
Church has faced great heresies before (Arianism, Docetism, Sabellianism, Donatism, Islam,
Romanism) and the Lord was pleased to grant victory. Why should not the present heresies
of Arminianism, Marxism and Humanism not go the same way. But wars are not won by
single combats, unruly mobs, rebellious troops or a people convinced defeat is inevitable.
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How we view the period of time in which we live has a direct affect on how we
conduct our lives. It colors our expectations and priorities. It determines the values we hold,
and the use of our resources. If these are "the last days" then this world has no real value, no
genuine purpose, no meaningful future. It is simply a waiting room for transients.
Furthermore, it is a waiting room destined to fall into decay, to become a breeding ground
for vice and crime. And nothing we can do will ever significantly alter its condition.
Therefore, there is no motivation to even try. However, if we view this present reality as a
task that has been given to us, as a thing of value in God's sight that we are responsible to
care for, if we believe that this age is the age which has been entrusted to our care, then we
will be motivated to work for victory, because we expect victory. We are motivated to make
a difference because it is not just a lay over spot, but our home for a good long time to come.
There is nothing standing between us and a safe, clean healthy domicile except obedience to
God's Word.
There were some last days before King Jesus came and exercised His royal judgment
over Jerusalem. There is a last day wherein King Jesus will come and exercise His royal
judgment over all men, living and dead. For Christians, a significant portion of that future
judgment will concern what we have done in the time between.
Source: https://www.preteristarchive.com/PartialPreterism/abshire-brian_pp_01.html
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THE LAST DAYS ACCORDING TO JESUS
(R.C. Sproul)
This book deals with the Olivet Discourse of Jesus, recorded in its most complete
form in Matthew 24-25, and in more abbreviated form in Mark 13 and Luke 21. The stated
purpose of the book is “to evaluate moderate preterism and its view of eschatology” (page
24). In general, preterism believes that the kingdom is a present reality, in contrast to
dispensationalism, which Sproul says “regards the kingdom as yet future” which “will not
come until the parousia” (the second coming of Christ) (pages 23-24). But Sproul
distinguishes between two distinct forms of preterism: 1) radical preterism, which holds that
all future prophecies in the New Testament have already been fulfilled (including the
parousia), and 2) moderate preterism, which holds that while many prophecies in the New
Testament have already been fulfilled, some crucial prophecies have not yet been fulfilled.
The principal concern of the book is to evaluate preterism, and in particular these two forms
of preterism, in regard to the interpretation of such verses in the Olivet Discourse as Matthew
24: 34 (“Verily I say unto you, this generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled”),
as well as other verses in the NT with specific time-frame references with respect to the
coming of Christ, such as Matthew 10:23 (“Verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone
over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come”).
Throughout his book, Sproul interacts with a book first published in 1887: The
Parousia: A Critical Inquiry into the New Testament Doctrine of Our Lord’s Second Coming,
by J. Stuart Russell. Sproul regards Russell as “perhaps the most important scholar of the
preterist school” (page 24), whose “chief concern was the time-frame references of NT
eschatology, particularly with respect to Jesus’ utterances concerning the coming of the
kingdom and to Jesus’ Olivet Discourse” (page 24). Sproul says that “the central thesis of
Russell and indeed all preterists is that the NT’s time-frame references with respect to the
parousia point to a fulfillment within the lifetime of at least some of Jesus’ disciples,” with
some preterists holding to a “primary fulfillment in AD 70 (the destruction of Jerusalem) and
a final fulfillment in the yet-unknown future” (page 25).
Sproul says that “whatever else may be said of preterism, it has achieved at least two
things: (1) it has focused attention on the time-frame references of NT eschatology, and (2)
it has highlighted the significance of Jerusalem’s destruction in redemptive history.” (page
25). In regard to the first of those achievements, Sproul feels that the failure of evangelical
scholars to deal adequately with the time-frame references in NT prophecy has resulted in a
wholesale attack on the trustworthiness of Scripture by radical critical scholars. The main
problem is that Jesus’ predictions in the Olivet discourse “include not only predictions
regarding Jerusalem and the temple, which did come to pass with astonishing accuracy, but
also predictions of his own coming in glory, or his parousia.” The response to the predictions
regarding the parousia on the part of radical critics is to say that Jesus was wrong, that His
predictions did not come to pass. Futurist scholars, on the other hand, have, according to
Sproul, gone through exegetical gymnastics to interpret the time-references in a manner that
allows for an extended time period before their fulfillment. Preterists, however, take the time-
references at face value and say that Christ’s parousia has occurred, in the short time frame
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predicted by Christ. They say that His prophesied parousia was fulfilled in a coming in
judgment on Jerusalem in AD 70. This takes into account the heavily symbolic nature of
apocalyptic language used in prophetic passages in the Bible, and shows how similar
language in the OT was used to prophesy of other judgements on Israel which by common
agreement had historical fulfillment (such as the Babylonian conquest of Judah in 586 BC).
It also entails a close examination of other (non-Biblical) historical accounts of the details of
the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70 (such as by Josephus).
It is here that the differences between radical or full preterism, and moderate or partial
preterism, come into play. The full-preterist view is that all specific eschatological events
predicted in the New Testament, such as the second advent, the resurrection of the dead, the
rapture, and the last judgment have already taken place. In contrast, the partial-preterist view
is explained by Sproul when he says: “I am convinced that the substance of the Olivet
Discourse was fulfilled in AD 70 and that the bulk of Revelation was likewise fulfilled in
that time period “ (page 158)—but this does not exhaust all specific NT prophecies.
Therefore, the central issue between full and partial preterists is: “What events prophesied in
the Bible are as yet unfulfilled” (page 158). Sproul would then look to other NT passages,
rather than to the Olivet Discourse, for those events which are yet to be fulfilled. Partial
preterists then would acknowledge that in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, there was
“a” parousia or coming of Christ, but it was not “the” parousia. As Sproul says: “The coming
of Christ in AD 70 was a coming in judgment on the Jewish nation, indicating the end of the
Jewish age and the fulfillment of a day of the Lord. Jesus really did come in judgment at that
time, fulfilling His prophecy in the Olivet Discourse. But this was not the final or ultimate
coming of Christ” (page 158). Thus, Sproul distinguishes between the end of the Jewish age,
and the end of human history.
The partial-preterist view is summarized in a chart on page 170:
AD 70 Still Future
A coming (parousia) of Christ The coming (parousia) of Christ
A day of the Lord The day of the Lord
The resurrection of the dead
The rapture of the living
A judgment The (final) judgment
The end of the Jewish age The end of history
While futurist scholars would see part of the Olivet Discourse as having been fulfilled
in AD 70, they would say that the remainder of the Discourse is yet to be fulfilled. In other
words, they would say that Jesus began by speaking of events that would be fulfilled in AD
70, but then looked ahead to events that would not be fulfilled until the far-away future, at
the end of human history. Preterist scholars would see substantially all of the Olivet
Discourse as having been fulfilled in AD 70, but with partial preterist scholars recognizing
other NT prophecies (outside the Olivet Discourse) as yet to be fulfilled.
To conclude, The Last Days According to Jesus is an intriguing book, which presents
a different perspective on the interpretation of NT prophecies regarding Jesus’ second
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coming and eschatology in general. It is not “light” reading, but is yet very readable
considering the complexity of the topic. It is written in Sproul’s lucid style, and is also
enhanced by numerous charts and summaries. Regardless of your viewpoint toward these
prophecy issues, you can profit from a reading of this book.
I would like to add that I (and others I have talked to) had always assumed that Sproul
was amillennial in his understanding of Bible prophecy, although he has not been specific on
the issue in the books I had read. Therefore, I was surprised to learn that he (at least now) is
postmillennial. This was confirmed in the January 1999 issue of Tabletalk, the monthly
magazine published by Sproul’s Ligonier Ministries. That issue is titled “Some of You Will
Not Sleep,” and the theme is NT prophecy regarding the last days, and in particular the
preterist view. In the opening article, Sproul says that in his eschatological pilgrimmage, he
has fluctuated, at times being drawn to the amillennial position and at other times, the historic
premillennial view (though he states he “has never been enticed by dispensational
eschatology, despite its being the contemporary majority report among evangelicals”—page
6). However, despite having given little credence to postmillennialism in the past, he says:
“Yet to my surprise, I have found myself more and more attracted to an orthodox post-mill
position with its moderate preterist perspective” (page 6). So it would appear that the post-
mill and preterist perspectives are ones that we will hear more about in upcoming days.
Source: https://bible.org/article/last-days-according-jesus
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ARE WE LIVING IN THE LAST DAYS? IS BIBLE PROPHECY COMING TRUE?
(JW.org)
1. Where can we learn about the future?
HAVE you watched the news on television and wondered, ‘What is this world coming
to?’ Tragic things happen so suddenly and unexpectedly that no human can predict what
tomorrow will bring. (James 4:14) However, Jehovah knows what the future holds. (Isaiah
46:10) Long ago his Word, the Bible, foretold not only the bad things happening in our day
but also the wonderful things that will occur in the near future.
2, 3. What question did the disciples ask Jesus, and how did he reply?
2 Jesus Christ spoke about the Kingdom of God, which will bring an end to
wickedness and make the earth a paradise. (Luke 4:43) People wanted to know when the
Kingdom would come. In fact, Jesus’ disciples asked him: “What will be the sign of your
presence and of the conclusion of the system of things?” (Matthew 24:3) In reply Jesus told
them that only Jehovah God knew exactly when the end of this system of things would come.
(Matthew 24:36) But Jesus did foretell things that would take place on earth just before the
Kingdom would bring true peace and security to mankind. What he foretold is now taking
place!
3 Before we examine the evidence that we are living in “the conclusion of the system
of things,” let us briefly consider a war that no human could possibly have observed. It took
place in the invisible spirit realm, and its outcome affects us.
A WAR IN HEAVEN
4, 5. (a) What took place in heaven soon after Jesus was enthroned as King?
(b) According to Revelation 12:12, what was to be the result of the war in heaven?
4 The preceding chapter in this book explained that Jesus Christ became King in
heaven in the year 1914. (Read Daniel 7:13, 14.) Soon after he received Kingdom power,
Jesus took action. “War broke out in heaven,” says the Bible. “Michael [another name for
Jesus] and his angels battled with the dragon [Satan the Devil], and the dragon and its angels
battled.”* Satan and his wicked angels, the demons, lost that war and were cast out of heaven
to the earth. God’s faithful spirit sons rejoiced that Satan and his demons were gone. Humans,
however, would experience no such joy. Instead, the Bible foretold: “Woe for the earth...
because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing that he has a short
period of time.”—Revelation 12:7, 9, 12.
5 Please notice what would result from the war in heaven. In his fury, Satan would
bring woe, or trouble, upon those on earth. As you will see, we are now living in that time of
woe. But it will be relatively brief—only “a short period of time.” Even Satan realizes that.
The Bible refers to this period as “the last days.” (2 Timothy 3:1) How glad we can be that
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God will soon do away with the Devil’s influence over the earth! Let us consider some of the
things foretold in the Bible that are happening right now. These prove that we are living in
the last days and that God’s Kingdom will soon bring everlasting blessings to those who love
Jehovah. First, let us examine four features of the sign that Jesus said would mark the time
in which we live.
MAJOR DEVELOPMENTS OF THE LAST DAYS
6, 7. How are Jesus’ words about wars

and food shortages being fulfilled
today?
6 “Nation will rise against nation

and kingdom against kingdom.” (Matthew
24:7) Millions of people have been killed
in wars during the past century. One
British historian wrote: “The 20th century
was the most murderous in recorded
history... It was a century of almost
unbroken war, with few and brief periods
without organized armed conflict
somewhere.”
A report from the World watch

Institute states: “Three times as many
people fell victim to war in [the 20th]
century as in all the wars from the first
century AD to 1899.” More than
100 million people have died as a result of
wars since 1914. Even if we know the
sorrow of losing one loved one in warfare,
we can only imagine such misery and pain
multiplied millions of times over.
7 “There will be food shortages.”

(Matthew 24:7) Researchers say that food
production has increased greatly during
the past 30 years. Nevertheless, food
shortages continue because many people
do not have enough money to buy food or
land on which to raise crops. In developing countries, well over a billion people have to live
on an income of a dollar or less a day. The majority of these suffer from chronic hunger. The
World Health Organization estimates that malnutrition plays a major role in the deaths of
more than five million children each year.
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8, 9. What shows that Jesus’ prophecies about earthquakes and pestilences have come
true?
8 “There will be great earthquakes.” (Luke 21:11) According to the U.S. Geological
Survey, an average of 19 major earthquakes are expected per year. These are powerful
enough to damage buildings and crack the ground. And on an average, earthquakes strong
enough to cause total destruction of buildings have occurred yearly. Available records show
that earthquakes have claimed over two million lives since 1900. One source states:
“Improvements in technology have only slightly reduced the death toll.”
9 “There will be... pestilences.” (Luke 21:11) Despite medical advances, old and new
diseases plague mankind. One report says that 20 well-known diseases—including
tuberculosis, malaria, and cholera—have become more common in recent decades, and some
types of disease are increasingly difficult to cure by
means of drugs. In fact, at least 30 new diseases have
appeared. Some of them have no known cure and are
fatal.
PEOPLE OF THE LAST DAYS
10. What traits foretold at 2 Timothy 3:1-5 do you

see in people today?
10 Aside from identifying certain world

developments, the Bible foretold that the last days
would be marked by a change in human society. The
apostle Paul described what people in general would
be like. We are told: “In the last days critical times
hard to deal with will be here.” (Read 2 Timothy 3:1-
5.) Paul said that people would be:
• Lovers of themselves
• Lovers of money
• Disobedient to parents
• Disloyal
• Having no natural affection
• Without self-control
• Fierce
• Lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God.
• Having an appearance of godliness but
proving false to its power.
11. How does Psalm 92:7 describe what will happen to the wicked ones?
11 Have people become like that in your community? No doubt they have. There are
people everywhere who have bad traits. This shows that God will soon act, for the Bible says:
“When the wicked sprout like weeds and all the wrongdoers flourish, it is that they may be
annihilated forever.”—Psalm 92:7.
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POSITIVE DEVELOPMENTS!
12, 13. How has “true knowledge” become abundant in this “time of the end”?
12 The last days are indeed filled with woe, just as the Bible foretold. In this troubled
world, however, there are positive developments among the worshippers of Jehovah.
13 “The true knowledge will become abundant,” the Bible book of Daniel foretold.
When would that happen? During “the time of the end.” (Daniel 12:4) Especially since 1914,
Jehovah has helped those who truly desire to serve him to grow in understanding of the Bible.
They have grown in appreciation of precious truths about God’s name and purpose, the
ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the condition of the dead, and the resurrection. Moreover,
worshippers of Jehovah have learned how to live their lives in a way that benefits them and
brings praise to God. They have also gained a clearer understanding of the role of God’s
Kingdom and how it will set matters straight on the earth. What do they do with this
knowledge? That question brings us to yet another prophecy that is being fulfilled in these
last days.
14. How widespread is the preaching of the Kingdom good news today, and who are
preaching it?
14 “This good news of the Kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth,” said
Jesus Christ in his prophecy about “the conclusion of the system of things.” (Read Matthew
24:3, 14.) Throughout the earth, the good news of the Kingdom—what the Kingdom is, what
it will do, and how we can receive its blessings—is being preached in over 230 lands and in
hundreds of languages. Millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses zealously preach the Kingdom good
news. They come from “all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues.” (Revelation 7:9)
The Witnesses conduct free home Bible studies with millions of people who want to know
what the Bible really teaches. What an impressive fulfillment of prophecy, especially since
Jesus foretold that true Christians would be “hated by all people”!—Luke 21:17.
WHAT WILL YOU DO?
15. (a) Do you believe that we are living in the last days, and why? (b) What will “the
end” mean for those who oppose Jehovah and for those who submit to the rulership of
God’s Kingdom?
15 Since so many Bible prophecies are being fulfilled today, do you not agree that we
are living in the last days? After the good news is preached to Jehovah’s satisfaction, “the
end” is certain to come. (Matthew 24:14) “The end” means the time when God will get rid
of wickedness on earth.
To destroy all who willfully oppose Him, Jehovah will use Jesus and powerful angels.
(2 Thessalonians 1:6-9) Satan and his demons will no longer mislead the nations. After that,
God’s Kingdom will shower blessings on all who submit to its righteous rulership.—
Revelation 20:1-3; 21:3-5.
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16. What would it be wise for you to do?
16 Since the end of Satan’s system is near, we need to ask ourselves, ‘What should I
be doing?’ It is wise to continue to learn more about Jehovah and his requirements for us.
(John 17:3) Be a serious student of the Bible. Make it your habit to associate regularly with
others who seek to do Jehovah’s will. (Read Hebrews 10:24, 25.) Come to know Jehovah
God through a study of his Word, and make necessary changes in your life so that you may
enjoy God’s favor.—James 4:8.
17. Why will the destruction of the wicked catch most people by surprise?
17 Jesus foretold that most people would ignore the evidence that we are living in the
last days. The destruction of the wicked will come suddenly and unexpectedly. Like a thief
in the night, it will catch most people by surprise. (Read 1 Thessalonians 5:2.) Jesus warned:
“As the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. For as they were in
those days before the Flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in
marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and they took no note until the Flood
came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.” Matt 24:37-39.
18. What warning by Jesus should we take to heart?
18 Hence, Jesus told his listeners: “Pay attention to yourselves that your hearts never
become weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and anxieties of life, and
suddenly that day be instantly upon you as a snare. For it will come upon all those dwelling
on the face of the whole earth. Keep awake, then, all the time making supplication that you
may succeed in escaping all these things that must occur and in standing [with approval]
before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:34-36) It is wise to take Jesus’ words to heart. Why?
Because those having the approval of Jehovah God and “the Son of man,” Jesus Christ, have
the prospect of surviving the end of Satan’s system of things and of living forever in the
marvelous new world that is so close at hand!—John 3:16; 2 Peter 3:13.
Source: https://www.jw.org/en/publications/books/bible-teach/are-we-living-in-the-last-
days/
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Max King’s “Hyper A.D 70. Doctrine”
MAX KING’S
HYPER A.D 70
DOCTRINE
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. Doctrine held by Max R. King.
2. This doctrine teaches that Christ had actually come in A.D. 70 and had, unknown to
anyone, effected the end of the world, the judgment. the resurrection of the dead, and
the establishment of the eternal kingdom.
3. There are living hell and heaven right now.
Doctrine Defeated.
1. In Matthew 24:36, Jesus changed the subject: “But of THAT day and hour knoweth
no man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only” – Not all Matthew 24 has
been fulfilled.
2. Jesus said, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son
of man cometh” (v. 44). “Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth
come” (V. 42).
3. There is a world to come (Ephesians 1:19-21).
4. The second coming was not in A.D 70: “ye do show the Lord’s death TILL HE
COME” (1 Corinthians 11:26).
5. Therefore, subsequent to the Lord’s return there will be no need for the Lord’s supper!
If Christ came in AD. 70, why have communion now?
6. “The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God” (I Thess. 4:13-18). No such “shout”, nor
“voice”, nor “trump of God” was heard in AD. 70.
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True
TRUE
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AN EXPOSE OF THE A.D. 70 DOCTRINE
(Charles J. Aebi)
It is truly difficult to know where to start in an expose of the A.D. 70 doctrine. Its
errors are legion. though most of them are interrelated. and these errors are not easily grasped
because they are couched in language which we are accustomed to using to mean other
things. In this way, the A.D. 70 doctrine resembles Neo-Orthodoxy and other brands of
liberalism: it assigns strange meanings to familiar words and passages and thus requires a
very tedious examination to even understand exactly what is being said in the first place.
Some new terms arc invented, but mostly it is an arbitrary assignment of esoteric ideas to
commonly used words and a consequent forced reinterpretation of well-known plain
passages to yield totally unexpected meanings.
THE ARROGANCE OF DATE-SETTERS
Sometime in the middle A.D. 60's two fellows named Hymenaeus and Philetus set
the date for Christ's second coming (i.e., of the resurrection) as past already, or as having
been sometime before A.D. 67 or thereabouts. Some 18 centuries later, William Miller set
the date for Christ's second coming as in 1843, and when it did not occur Miller's associates
set the date again for October 22, 1844. Nothing happened then, either. A half-century later,
Charles T. Russell set the date for \914, and when Christ did not appear that time, "Judge"
Rutherford set the date for 1920. Later the "Judge" rendered the "decision" that Jesus had
appeared, but it had occurred secretly and was not generally known.
So, the "Judge" and his followers were commissioned to announce it to the
unsuspecting world. Another half century later, Max R. King (The Spirit of Prophecy, 1972)
declared that all the others were wrong and that Christ had actually come in A.D. 70 and had,
unbeknown to anyone, effected the end of the world, the judgment. the resurrection of the
dead, and the establishment of the eternal kingdom. King later affirmed this in debates (The
Nichols-King Debate. 1973; The McGuiggan King Debate, 1975). Each of the above date-
setters was certain of his position, yet Jesus Christ. the Divine King whose coming is the
point of issue, said that neither he nor the angels of heaven knew what the date of his second
coming would be (Matt. 24: 36). We therefore charge the A.D. 70 advocates with the error
of colossal arrogance! If Jesus did not know when it would be, how can uninspired men
know?
The A.D. 70 people will doubtless reply that Jesus was speaking of no one knowing
the future, but that they know the past and are merely stating what has already occurred-that
their knowledge is not prophetic but historic. To this we respond that Hymenaeus and
Philetus were in the same position and were wrong and that if it is history. we should all have
known it. Indeed, every eye would have already seen it and the mourning of all the nations
would have come to our ears (Rev. 1:7). But such is not the case. Instead, as with the
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Jehovah's Witnesses, they insist that they are the enlightened ones who have found the truth
camouflaged in plain language which does not at all mean what it says.
THE NEW A.D. 70 "SPIRITUALIZING" HERMENEUTIC
The basic error of the A.D. 70 doctrine is its new hermeneutic that is described as
"spiritual" and that "spiritualizes" the Bible in general and prophecy. Each one who has set
the date for Christ's second coming has erred similarly in thinking that he possessed some
secret, heretofore unknown key to the interpretation of certain prophecies and/or to the Bible
in general. One such date setter, Herbert W. Armstrong, claims that 181/2 centuries after the
key to Biblical interpretation was lost in the destruction of Jerusalem, it was revealed to him
through his wife. With this magical key Armstrong manipulates each passage of scripture to
read into it what he wishes to find there (e.g., that "Israel" means Anglo-Saxons), and then
to extract some amazing "truth" from it (e.g., that all Anglo Saxons will be spared-Rom.
11:26). Starting with the assumption that A.D. 70 was the end of the world and the second
coming of Christ, King employs a "new hermeneutic" key to "spiritualize" eschatological
and other passages in such a way that they fit his theory. By this spiritualizing tactic, he treats
virtually all prophecy as figurative, never literal. in its meaning and fulfillment. The first and
primary meaning, he says, is figurative (he uses the term "spiritual" rather than "figurative:'
thus prejudicing his case). and any literal meaning or fulfillment is secondary if at all. The
result of the "spiritualizing" hermeneutic is to reverse the accepted usage of language. which
is to take words and sentences at face value (literally) unless there is good reason to
understand them figuratively- i.e… unless a literal understanding either does not make sense
or else forces a contradiction with another passage or known truth.
SUBJECTIVE CHAOTIC EXEGESIS
The spiritualizing hermeneutic makes for chaotic exegesis, since any "spiritual" or
figurative meaning given as the first or primary interpretation would of necessity depend on
the subjective prejudices of the interpreter. Thus, we would have as much confusion in the
exegesis of clear. plain passages of Scripture as now exists in the interpretation of the book
of Revelation! Imagine the sea of doctrinal confusion in which we would be floundering if
baptism were "spiritualized" to mean whatever the Pentecostal, or Calvinist. or Catholic
wanted it to mean. What if "water" in John 3: 5 is to be understood "spiritually" and does
not really mean "water?" If it is not water, then what is it?
The answer is that it becomes whatever we want it to be-whatever wc think it needs

to be to make john 3:5 correspond to our preconceived notions. Is this far-fetched'? Do not
Calvinists do just that with "water" in John 3: 5-spiritualize it out of existence? A few
specific examples of A.D. 70 exegesis should suffice to show the confusion that results from
their forced manipulations. King in The Spirit of Prophecy (pp. 199-204) argues that the
natural, weak, corruptible body that Paul refers to as dying and being buried ("sown") in I
Cor. 15: 35-49 is "the fleshly or carnal system of Judaism" and that "the primary application
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of the resurrection is applied to the death of Judaism, and to the rise of Christianity." He says
that the resurrection of I Cor. 15, like the cross, is "a past reality… and because it is past,
Christians now have a greater hope ... Truly death has been destroyed 'in Christ' (I Cor. 15:
22)." I suggest that a very careful reading of I Corinthians 15 from beginning to end will not
give even the slightest hint of such meaning; to get that meaning out of it, one must first put
into the passage a set of arbitrary definitions which the context will not support in any way.
All resurrection passages receive similar treatment. In 2 Cor. 4: 16-5:10 the "outward
man" and the "house from heaven" are Christianity. The "earthly house" of 2 Cor. 5: I is said
to be the "ministration of death" of 2 Cor. 3:7, and the "house from heaven" of 2 Cor. 5: 1-2
is supposed to be the "ministration of righteousness" of 2 Cor. 3:9. Never mind that Paul has
in the intervening chapter turned to the topic of the many persecutions of himself and other
faithful preachers because they taught the truth and opposed the Judaizers, and that Paul
concludes that this persecution is easier to bear because of the hope that he and all Christians
have of a resurrection to immortality after this life of affliction is over! What is one
intervening chapter when you have an axe to grind by slipping two dissimilar passages
together? Again, I ask, can you find anything inherent in 2 Cor. 4: 16- 5: 10 that even
remotely suggests the destruction of Jerusalem and the rise of Christianity from its ruins? "I
throw not."
A REINTERPRETATION OF THE NEW TESTAMENT
One might expect the A.D. 70 advocates to apply their chaotic exegesis to prophetic
passages referring to the resurrection, the second coming, the judgment, and the end of the
world, but what is not suspected is that they demand a reinterpretation of much if not all of
the New Testament because of the arbitrary definitions they have assigned to words which
are used in other contexts than prophetic ones.
For example, it came out in a lectureship last year that they believe Ephesians 6: 10-
20 is not really referring to our Christian warfare against the world in which we live, but to
the battle the pre-A.D. 70 Christians had to fight against the Jewish leaders ("rulers of the
darkness of this world") up until and during "the evil day" (vv.12- 13). How the battlc of Eph.
6: 10-20 can be made to refer to the fall of Jerusalem or Judaism is a slight-of-tongue
operation which leaves the common Christian aghast and wondering fearfully where they
will strike next and whether any Scripture will remain understandable to any but the
spiritualizing elite if the A.D. 70 doctrine be accepted.
Why is this the case? Simply because the A.D. 70 doctrine is so opposed to the plain
statements of Scripture everywhere that a reinterpretation must be done to create the
impression of harmony between it and many opposing passages. This is done by building a
new vocabulary or, what is worse, using the common vocabulary but giving the words new
and arbitrary meanings without regard to context.
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Thus "world', (kosmos) is redefined to mean "Jewish age" in spite of the textual and
lexicographal evidence against it. "Body" is redefined to mean "Judaism" if it is physical or
before death, and "Christianity" if it is spiritual or after the resurrection, and both are arbitrary
definitions applied to contexts in which no reader would ever guess that such could possibly
be the meaning. "This world" is the old covenant, Judaism, or the Jewish system, but "the
world to come" is the Christian system or the eternal covenant. The "new covenant" is said
to be the promise to Abraham. The "day of the Lord," "that day," "the day of Christ," and
similar expressions arc all interpreted to mean AD. 70, the fall of Jerusalem.
COEXISTENCE OF JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY
Some passages are pressed for esoteric meanings reminiscent of the allegorical school
of Alexandria and similar allegorical interpretations such as that of the Jewish view which
held that because God created the earth in six days and rested on the seven, the earth would
stand for six thousand years in turmoil and the seventh thousand would be the millennium of
Messiah. Such an allegorical interpretation is applied to Paul's own allegory in Galatians
4:21-31 with amazing results.
In a chapter entitled "Abraham Had Two Sons," King (The Spirit of Prophecy, pp.
27-44) says that because Abraham's two sons, Isaac and Ishmael. lived together in Abraham's
house for a time, Christianity and Judaism were both in effect from about A.D. 30 to A.D.
70. This means that both Jews and Christians were God's people during a forty-year transition
period.
We have all understood, on the basis of Col. 2: 14-18, Heb. 9: \5-17, Acts 2, and many
other passages that there was a short period of some fifty days (between the cross and
Pentecost) when the new law had been legislated and thus was "on the books" but during
which the old law was still valid until the effective date of the new law, which was on
Pentecost. But we have never understood and do not now understand that the transitional
period was 40 years.
If the New Testament as a will was to be valid after its testator (Christ) died, as Heb.
9: 15-17 affirms, it was, as wills arc, put in force when it was probated and read on Pentecost
when the gospel of the risen Savior was first preached. Who ever heard of a will not becoming
valid until forty years after its testator died unless such a clause was plainly contained in the
will itself? Where is there such a limiting clause in the New Testament? The plain fact is
that if the New Testament did not replace the Old until AD. 70, then Paul must have been a
madman to have fought against Judaizing teachers all that time! Paul had no such
understanding, for he plainly said that the cross eliminated the law of Moses (Col. 2: 14) and
that anyone who justified his practice by the law of Moses had fallen from grace (Gal. 5:4).
King's contradictory statements on this allegory have Christianity beginning in A.D. 70 but
being "born on Pentecost" (Ibid., p. 37), and have "the offspring of the freewoman" (p. 30)
being addressed by Paul in AD. 58 when Paul wrote Galatians. but the "manifestation of the
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sons of God occurring along with redemption, the adoption. the marriage, the inheritance,
and the second coming in A.D. 70 (p. 195). How could Christianity begin 40 years before it
was born? How can you have offspring 12 years before marriage, except by illegitimacy?
See what happens when you press an analogy too far?
A.D. 70 REPLACES THE CROSS AS THE CENTRAL POINT IN HISTORY
Hebrews 9: 15 and a host of other passages place the cross at the very center of all
history and prophecy. The gospel centers on the cross (I Cor. 15: 1-4), and the cross is the
turning point in the conversion process (Rom. 6:6: Col. 3:3). The cross was implicit in the
promise to Abraham (Gal. 3: 8) as that promise is interpreted by Peter (Acts 3:25-26). The
New Testament is replete with references back to the cross of Christ as to the beginning of a
new era; the Old Testament looked to the cross of Christ as the event of the future and. though
not always clearly understood. at sometimes very specifically envisioned (lsa. 53).
E. R. Harper in Living Issues published several sermons to show how Boll and the
premillennial theory eliminated the cross and made it a failure. If Christ came to establish a
kingdom but failed to do so because of the cross, and the kingdom thus had to be postponed
until the second coming, the cross must be understood as a failure. Is the A.D. 70 idea any
different? It is contended that the kingdom was not fully established at the cross. but that a
weak, impotent. inglorious, incomplete embryo of a kingdom limped along under the
persecution of the Jews until A.D. 70 when it was raised in glory. power, and immortality so
that Christ could truly reign. The A.D. 70 doctrine places triumph at A.D. 70 but failure at
the cross and failure at Pentecost! The AD. 70 doctrine replaces the cross with A.D. 70 as the
very center of all history and prophecy.
The A.D. 70 doctrine is one grand adjustment process. A.D. 70 is set as the date
around which all else pivots, and everything else is readjusted to fit A.D. 70. All New
Testament books are required to have been written before A.D.70. The effective date of the
gospel or New Testament is adjusted to A.D. 70 to make the law of Moses effective until that
time. The cross of Christ can hardly be moved to AD. 70, but what happened at the cross is
transferred to A.D. 70. The real significance of Pentecost, which is so clearly connected with
the cross in point of time, is removed 40 years to AD. 70. The gospel of the cross becomes
the gospel of A.D. 701 Instead of the few prophetic references which are in fact made to the
fall of Jerusalem the entire New Testament is adjusted to be full of references to AD. 70. If
that requires manipulation, arbitrary definition, "spiritualizing," or other juggling-no matter'
Since A.D. 70 has been judged a priori to be the summum bonum, all else must be adjusted
to point to A.D. 70 as to a grand icon!
OVERTHROWING THE FAITH OF SOME
When I first heard the A.D. 70 doctrine, I charged that it would overthrow the faith
of some today as a similar doctrine (2 Tim. 2: 17- 18) did in A.D. 67 or earlier.
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(See "That the Resurrection Is Past Already," Gospel Advocate, July I, 1971). King
objected strongly to this comparison and said that his doctrine does not affect the Christian's
hope today because "the believer in death may now enter immediately into his eternal reward"
(p. 224). Note, however, that King says all prophecy has been fulfilled. He stated publicly
in my hearing that there was no New Testament eschatology remaining for us, nothing left
unfulfilled. Then when asked upon what he bases his hope of eternal reward, he spent thirty
minutes trying to show how the promise to Abraham assures him of a reward hereafter. I
charge that this shows that King has a doctrinal hangover: he previously believed in heaven
when he understood the many New Testament promises of the resurrection and eternal life
hereafter. and now that he has changed his mind about the resurrection and eternal life, he
still has his anachronistic belief in heaven troubling him. He has rejected all New Testament
promises as already fulfilled, and in desperation he goes back to an Old Testament promise,
a part of which he seemingly believes to be yet unfulfilled and in which he can look for
personal blessing when he dies.
How that weakens the Christian hope which we have in such glorious promises as I
Cor. 15; 1 Thes. 4; II Cor. 4-5; Phil. 3: 11.20-21; Col. 3:4! King says, "The hope. and the
redemption of New Testament saints was deliverance from (out of) the Jewish age" (p. 80).
That is not what the above and many other like passages affirm; they promise immortality
and glory when Christ returns, and they say nothing of A.D. 70 or of the Jewish age. It was
Paul's understanding that the Jewish law was already dead and the Jewish age already past.
Christians today have the same needs, the same Christ, the same gospel, the same
forgiveness, and THE SAME HOPE as did the saints of the New Testament church. We have
neither more nor less than they, except that their gospel was often oral and ours is written.
We still have to fight Judaizers, and Jews today persecute Christians whenever they have
opportunity and power to do so; only some (not all) of their power was eliminated in A.D.
70.
REMOVES MOTIVATION FOR GOOD
The A.D. 70 doctrine removes motivation for good when it wipes out the promises of
Christ's second coming, the resurrection, the judgment, heaven, and hell. Any faith that the
A.D. 70 advocates may have in accountability is an anachronistic as their hope of eternal
reward, for they have nullified the passages which promise both.
Note that the great promises of I Cor. 15 are concluded with the admonition of verse
58-because we have the promise of the resurrection, we should be steadfast, etc. Note that
the promises of I J Cor. 4: 16-5:8 are capped with the accountability principle of verses 9-10
(we aim to please God because we are all to be judged according to our earthly deeds, whether
good or evil). Note that the destruction of the universe at Christ's second coming (11 Peter 3)
is accompanied by the exhortation of verses 11-14 to the effect that since destruction is
coming on the physical order of things, we ought to live godly lives. Note the same
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motivation for good attached to the promise or glorification in I John 3: 1-3. If the promises
are all fulfilled, where is the motivation these promises once offered when they were yet to
be fulfilled? And if they do not offer motivation any longer. what passage does? Must we go
to the promise to Abraham for this. too? How ridiculous!
DESTROYS FELLOWSHIP IN WORK AND WORSHIP
Not only is motivation to work destroyed. but also fellowship in that work is
destroyed. How can we work with those whose gross distortions make Scriptures
meaningless? How can we trust an exegesis of one who we know has a "spiritualizing" craze?
When a teacher says that Matt. 22: 30 and Gal. 3: 28 mean the same thing, we have cause to
question his honesty. But this is a two-sided street. We have no alternative but to refuse to
bid Godspeed to one who does not abide in the doctrine of Christ. but how do the A.D. 70
people feel about us? 1 have observed that their leaders refuse to sing a large number of songs
in worship, and indeed they must if they do not believe in the promises of the gospel. "Beulah
Land," "On Jordan's Stormy Banks," "0 They Tell Me of a Home," "There's a Land Beyond
the River," "When Jesus Comes to Reward His Servants,'" "When the Trumpet of the Lord
Shall Sound," and many other songs must not be sling, and fellowship in worship is
destroyed.
Not only singing. but the motivation to partake of the Lord's Supper is also affected.
We partake of the Lord's supper to "proclaim the Lord's death till he come" (1 Cor. 11: 26).
Why would we still do it if we believe he has already come? Fellowship is also destroyed
because we have learned by experience that the spiritualizing away of any plain passage that
is found to set forth a disagreeable statement (such as hell, judgment, etc.) is .1 characteristic
common to liberals. Is not the logical conclusion of the A.D. 70 doctrine liberalism? If Jesus'
second coming was "spiritual" (i.e., figurative, not literal). then his going into heaven must
also have been figurative. since Acts J: 11 says that they will both be the same. If the
resurrection of I Cor. 15: 35-57 is figurative and not bodily. then the resurrection of Christ
was not either. since I Cor. 15: 16. 20-23 says they are the same type of resurrection (the first
fruits are the same kind of fruits as the later fruits!). Thus the A.D. 70 doctrine's logical
conclusions would whisk ~way the resurrection and ascension of Christ into a spiritualized
nothingness just as the liberals have done. For these and other reasons. we must reject the
A.D. 70 doctrine as heresy. Its dangers are only gradually being fully realized, but they are
fully as great or greater than the threat posed by premillennialism.
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “The Future of the Church” - 1978, Charles J. Aebi:
An Expose of the A.D. 70 Doctrine. Pages 10-18.
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MAX KING-ISM
(Flavil H. Nichols)
I. BRIEF HISTORY OF MAX KING-ISM
Max R. King (born March 30, 1930, in West Virginia) preached at Parkman Road
Church of Christ, Warren, Ohio, since 1962. Apparently, he envisions himself as God’s
messenger to save the church from the idea that prophecy was intended to be, or is, “literally”
fulfilled. He quoted one listener to his radio preaching who indicated this is a “new
revelations” “… why has God allowed this truth to be hidden for almost 2,000 years; and
why is it being revealed at this particular time?”
Brother King acknowledges that he learned much of this doctrine from his father-in-
law, Brother C. D. Beagle, who wrote in the introduction to “The Spirit of Prophecy” that
Brother King spent about ten years of “careful and prayerful study” before he began writing
the book.2 Brother Frank D. Young told me of an old book reprinted by Old Path Book Club
in which these same (or very similar) views were stated and refuted.
A common rule of interpretation says words should be understood in their natural or

usual sense, unless forced by the context to give them a figurative, non-literal, or “spiritual”
meaning.3 Brother King assumes the direct opposite of this! He thinks we should put a
“spiritual” (“non-literal” or “figurative”) interpretation on every prophecy in the Bible unless
forced to conclude that it must have “literal” fulfillment! Brother King avers that we need his
“spiritual” concept as an “interpretative principle” in order to “catch the drift and spirit of
prophecy.” Brother King not only promulgated these views by pulpit, radio, and pen; he also
advocated them in lectures to preachers. From a tape of such lectures, April 22, 1971, I quote
Brother King: “I’m just giving you my theory of it, my view on it. This is for you to think
about; this is for you to study. I know it changes your views on a lot of things. It turns you
around! It turned me upside down and every which way, even at night! (Laughter) You know,
you get into something like this, and it bothers you! Really! But I’ve come to the conclusion,
that, just simply because I’m a member of the Church of Christ has not guaranteed me that I
possess and have all the truth. I’ve lost that concept a long time ago. And I think this is one
of our problems in the church: we fear (maybe) to look at a thing in a different view
sometimes, lest it will show us that we have need of a change in a point of doctrine here or
there along the way.” The same day he said: “This is a study in which I think you really need
to be on the floor the foundation of it. And as I say, you walk in the middle of it, and you
might lose faith all of a sudden at least, in ME!” (Laughter).
Notwithstanding these admissions, Brother King offered for sale his book (The Spirit
of Prophecy) at the FHC Lectureship (1972 and 1973). In the 1973, Open Forum he protested
that his teaching had been misunderstood or misrepresented. Immediately thereafter
propositions were signed for a debate between him and Gus Nichols, which was held July
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17-20, 1973, at Warren, Ohio, and which is in print. Here are the propositions: The Holy
Scriptures teach that the second coming of Christ, including the establishment of the eternal
kingdom, the day of judgment, the end of the world, and the resurrection of the dead, occurred
with the fall of Judaism in 70 AD.
Affirmative: Max R. King Negative: Gus Nichols.
The second proposition reads: “The Holy Scripture teach that the second and final
coming of Christ, including the resurrection of all the dead, the day of judgment, the end of
the world, and the delivering of the kingdom to God the Father, is yet future in relation to us
today.”
Affirmative: Gus Nichols Negative: Max R. King. After the propositions were
signed, and while preparing for the debate, my father wished there had been five individual
propositions, so each of the five points could be discussed separately.
This discussion “marked” Brother King as being contrary to the doctrine (Romans
16:17). Subsequently I heard that some congregations ceased to use him and his followers.
A written discussion between him and Brother Jim McGuiggan has followed.
II. MATTHEW 24 NOT ALL FULFILLED IN AD. 70
Although Matthew 24 is the topic of another speaker, since Brother King bases much
of his theories on this chapter, we must examine that chapter briefly. Jesus’ disciples asked
him two questions: (1) When shall “these things” be? and (2) what shall be the sign of thy
coming and of the end of the world (v. 3). “These things” referred to the destruction of
Jerusalem. Jesus said there would be discernible signs of the fall of Jerusalem, at which saints
should flee for their lives (vs. 15-28, 32-33). He foretold that they could “see all these things”
(v. 33) and would thereby “know that it is near, even at the doors.” He added: “This
generation shall not pass, till all THESE THINGS be fulfilled” (v. 34-).
However, in v.36 Jesus changed the subject: “But of THAT day and hour knoweth no
man, no not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.” Our Lord used the Greek word
“EKEINOS” for “THAT day and hour,” which Harper says means “That” in contrast with
“THIS.” Jesus knew the destruction of the temple would come before “this generation”
passed; and he gave signs whereby they could know it was “near.” But “of THAT DAY and
hour” he (Mk. 13:32) did not know the time. how could he have given signs of the time for
it to come??? Instead, the time of its coming is unpredictable, like the time for the flood to
come (“and knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so, shall also the coming
of the Son of man be” v. 39), or like the hour when a thief may come (v. 43).
Jesus said, “Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son
of man cometh” (v. 44). “Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come”
(V. 42). Jesus knew the book of Daniel; but he (Mk. 13:32) did not know when the second
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coming will be; therefore, no man can learn from Daniel the time of the second coming. Paul
taught (2 Thess. 2:1-12) the second coming was not “at hand,” for the “man of sin” (the
papacy?) must first arise. But the destruction of Jerusalem was hundreds of years before the
papacy! Therefore, the second coming was not in AD. 70.
The discourse which Jesus began in Matthew 24 continues throughout the 25th
chapter, in which Jesus spake the parable of the ten virgins. He closed it with: “Watch
therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matt.
25:13). He also told about a servant (vs. 14-30) who failed to watch, showing that we also
could fail to be ready. Brother King teaches that Jesus knew the time of his second coming,
and gave signs of it; but Jesus denies this (Mk. 13:32; Matt. 24:36). King’s doctrine is that
man has been in the “new heaven and new earth” ever since AD. 70, for (according to him)
the “judgment” of Matthew 25:31-46 occurred when Jerusalem was destroyed! He thinks the
wicked went into “everlasting fire” and the righteous into “everlasting life” at that time!
There is nothing in the future for us! Such a doctrine robs the gospel of its ingredient of
“hope” (Col. 1:5, 23)! Christians live “in hope of eternal life” (Titus 1:2) which Jesus says
we shall receive “in the world to come” (Mk. 10:30).
III. THERE IS A “WORLD TO COME”
There is a “world to come” which (in relation to us) is yet future. All admit the word
“world” (from Greek AIONOS) sometimes referred to the Patriarchal age (2 Pet. 3:6),
sometimes to the Jewish age (Matt. 12:32), and sometimes to the Gospel or Christian age
(Matt. 12:32). However, after the gospel age was ushered in (Acts 2), Paul wrote that Christ
is “far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is
named, not only in this world” (the gospel age), “but also in that which is to come” (Eph.
1:19-21). So, there is a “world to come” subsequent to the gospel age!
IV. THE SECOND COMING WAS NOT IN A. D. 70
If the second coming of Christ has already occurred, Brother King and his followers
should cease to eat the Lord’s Supper! For in proper communion “ye do show the Lord’s
death TILL HE COME” (I Cor. l 1 :26). Therefore, subsequent to the Lord’s return there will
be no need for the Lord’s supper! If Christ came in AD. 70, why have communion now?
The separation of the soul from the body leaves the body dead (Jas. 2:26). At death, the spirit
of the saint goes to be with Jesus (Phil. 1:23; 2 Cor. 5:6, 8; Acts 7:59). But, when Jesus comes
the second time, he will bring the souls of the righteous with him: “Them also which sleep
in Jesus will God” (Jesus the second person in the Godhead) “bring with him” (I Thess. 4:14).
This did NOT happen in AD. 70! The Lord is “coming . . . with all his saints . . . ”
(Jude 14-15). There was nothing like this at the destruction of Jerusalem! This is yet future!
According to Brother King, the book of Revelation was written about AD. 60-68. His theories
demand that it be written prior to AD. 70, when Jerusalem was destroyed. However, after the
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book was written, Satan would be bound “a thousand years” (along time!), the martyrs would
“reign with Christ a thousand years” (either the same, or a second, long time!), then Satan
would be loosed “a little season” all prior to the Lord’s return! The language of the book does
not even slightly hint that the second coming would be within 2-10 years! Furthermore, down
through history the writing of Revelation is dated late in the first century, probably AD. 96.
(I know not when it was written; however, Max King-ism absolutely demands that it be
written prior to AD. 70)! Yet, its very terminology denotes the passage of at least one long
period (maybe two), called “a thousand years,” PRIOR to the second coming, the judgment,
and the new heaven and the new earth. Brother King cannot be right in teaching that this all
happened in a very short time (2-10 years) after the writing of Revelation!
V. THE “SECOND COMING” IS YET FUTURE
The first “coming” of Christ was from heaven as a babe in Bethlehem (Jn. 6:38; Gal.
4:4). Later he “came”: (1) to be baptized (Acts 13:34), (2) from the tomb (Matt. 28: 16), (3)
to the apostles (Jn. 14:18, 23; Acts 2:1-4), (4) to Saul (I Cor. 15:8; Acts 26:16), and (5) to
John on Patmos (Rev. 1:12-18). However, in the future He “shall appear a second time” (Heb.
9:26-29) in contrast with his first personal “coming” from heaven. He promised, “I go to
prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive
you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (Jn. 14:2-3).
This promise has not yet been fulfilled! Jesus did not say, “While I am away, you
renovate this earth, and prepare it, so that where you are, there I may be also!” At his
ascension the angels announced, “This same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven,
shall so come . . . ” (Acts 129-11). “So” is an adverb of manner; but, lest any overlook this
fact, the angels added: “1N LIKE MANNER . . . ” His ascension was literal and visible; his
second coming will be “in like manner.” Then to make certain that the apostles understood
his return will be visible, the angels elaborated: “ . . . shall SO come in LIKE MANNER as
ye HA VE SEEN him go into heaven.” Nothing like this happened in AD. 70! Jesus warned
his contemporaries not even to go investigate rumors that he had come “visibly” in that
generation (Matt. 2414-5, 23, 27)! When he comes, “every eye shall see him, and they also
which pierced him” (Rev. 1:7). The only way those who “pierced him” can “see” him, is for
them to be raised from their graves which did not occur at the destruction of Jerusalem, but
which will happen at his future second coming!
“The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God” (I Thess. 4:13-18). No such “shout”, nor “voice”, nor
“trump of God” was heard in AD. 70. But at his second coming, “All that are in the graves
shall hear his voice, and shall come forth” (Jn. 5:28-29). In AD. 70 there was no personal
“second coming” of Christ; that coming is in the future. His ascension was personal and
visible (Acts 1:9-11), and he shall “so come in like manner . . . ” and “every eye shall see
him” (Rev. 1:7). Jesus promised, “All that are in the graves shall hear his voice” (Jn. 4:28)
which will be a “shout” (I Thess. 4:16). Nothing like this occurred in AD. 70. The bodies in
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the cemeteries will all be raised (Jn. 5:28-29; I Cor. 15:12-26, 35-38); nothing like this
occurred in AD. 70. At his coming he will gather all nations before him, and separate them
in judgment (Matt. 25:31-46). This did not happen at the destruction of Jerusalem.
VI. THE RESURRECTION WAS NOT IN AD. 70
There will be a bodily resurrection at the second coming of Christ. Our “bodies are
the members of Christ” (I Cor. 6:15). But, at death, our bodies “sleep in the dust of the earth”
(Dan. 12:2), while the “spirit shall return unto God who gave it” (Eccl. 12:7). The soul does
not die (Matt. 10:28; 17:1-5), but the body does (Jas. 2:26). This body is “mortal” (Rom.
6:12), but at the second coming “he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies . . . ” (Rom. 8:11). “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this
mortal must put on immortality. So, when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and
this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is
written, Death is swallowed up in victory” (I Cor. 15:53-54).
This resurrection will be at the second coming, as it is written: “But now is Christ
risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by man came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as .in Adam all die, even so in
Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the tirstfruits; afterward
they that are Christ’s at his coming. Then cometh the end . . .” (I Cor. 15:20-24).
(Premillennialists think this is the “beginning” of the Millennium)! But, the Bible says, “Then
cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father;” not,
that he shall have received the kingdom from God! -“when he shall have put down all rule
and all , authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (I Cor. 15:24-26). When all who ever have
died are raised, and when no one else shall ever die, death will have been “destroyed.”
Jesus was the “firstfruits.” After his resurrection, the Bible stresses that the Jesus who
was raised was identical with the Jesus prior to his death. Jesus showed the assembled
apostles his hands and his side (Jn. 20:20), and later invited Thomas to finger his hands, and
thrust his hand into Jesus’ side (v. 26-28). The “Jesus” who was raised was “that same Jesus
whom ye have crucified” (Acts 2:36, 32). The apostles “did eat and drink with him after he
rose from the dead” (Acts 10:41; see also Jn. 21 :4-14).
The apostle Paul says we are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our
body” (Rom. 8:23). Jesus assured us that “all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and
shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have
done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (Jn. 5:28-29). This will be “at his coming” (I
Cor. 15:23). John explains, “It doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when
he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (I Jn. 3:2). The same body
that is “sown” (I Cor. 15: 42-44) (or buried) is the body that is raised. As was true of Christ,
the same body which is put into the grave is raised.
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Nothing like this occurred in AD. 70! And one is a false teacher who puts a figurative
interpretation on such clear passages!
VII. THE “JUDGMENT DAY” WAS NOT IN AD. 70
Admittedly, some judgment for man goes on in this lifetime, else the Lord would not
know whom to add to his church (Acts 2:47; note also 2 Tim. 2:19; Rev. 2:2). And there have
been days of special judgment against various peoples. But, there will be a “day of judgment”
(2 Pet. 2:9) which will be universal (Acts 17:32; Rom. 14:10-12; Matt. 25:31-46). This is that
“judgment to come” (Acts 24:25), and it will be “after” death (Heb. 9:27). It will be at the
second coming of Christ (Matt. 16:27; 2 Tim. 4:1-2; Matt. 25:31;2 Thess. 1:6-10; Jude 14-
15). “The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (Jn. 12:48). So,
there will not be another “day” to follow the judgment. But, the resurrection will also be “the
last day” (Jn. 6:39, 40, 44, 54; 11:24).
Therefore, Jesus will judge all “at his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:1-2). “Behold, the Lord
cometh . . . to execute judgment upon all . . .” (Jude 14-15). The dead of former generations
will be raised from the dead, and will be judged. “Tyre and Sidon” will be in judgment “with”
Christ’s generation (Matt. 11:22); and so will Sodom (Matt. 11:24) and Gomorrha (Matt. 10:
15; Mk. 6:11). Jesus said, “The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation .
. . ” (Matt. 12:41; Lk. 11:32); therefore, this “judgment” must be after the resurrection; else,
how could “this generation” and “Nineveh” be together? “The queen of the south shall rise
up in the judgment with this generation . . . ” (Matt. 12:42;Lk. 11:31). Nothing like that
happened in AD. 70! They were not raised and judged then! Sure1y this “judgment” is yet
future in relation to us! There have been nineteen hundred years, each of which had 365 days,
since AD. 70! Therefore, the judgment of the “last day” (Jn. 12:48) was not in AD. 70, but is
yet future!
This judgment to come, after death, at the second coming of Christ, at the “last day,”
the resurrection day, when the living are “changed” (I Cor. 15:51-53), will also be when the
righteous are rewarded and the wicked are punished (Jn. 5:28-29). “For the Son of man shall
come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according
to his works” (Matt. 16:27). “When” Jesus comes, he shall punish the wicked “when he shall
come to be glorified in his saints” (2 Thess. 1:6-10). Notice carefully the adverbs of time in
that text. This did not occur in AD. 70! Jesus said, “Every idle word that men shall speak,
they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matt. 12:36). This did NOT happen
in AD. 70, but is yet future!
“Premillennialism True or False?” Flavil Nichols: Max King-ism. Pages 97-104.
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THE A.D 70 THEORY
(Gary Workman)
It was in March of 1971 that brother Max R. King of Warren, Ohio, first ventured to
publicly set. forth an admittedly "unorthodox" and "controversial" treatment of predictive
prophecy. Later that year brother King published his views in a book called The Spirit of
Prophecy. 1 (Page numbers and King's "book" cited throughout the body of this chapter refer
to that volume.) In this book, King takes issue with usual prophetic interpretation, saying that
"the reason for exegetical confusion and disharmony in prophetic interpretation" is "a failure
to discern the true spirit of prophecy or the manner in which it has fulfillment, and second, a
failure to observe the time of prophecy's fulfillment" (p. iii).
King seems to have decided at the outset that God's redemptive purposes must reach
their consummation "at a time and in a manner that do not require the abolition of God's
material creation, or the cessation of time as known by man" (p. iii). King starts with the
premise that end-time prophecy must primarily have a "spiritual" (non-literal) fulfillment. He
then draws the conclusion that "the second coming of Christ, including the establishment of
the eternal kingdom, the day of judgment, the end of the world and the resurrection of the
dead, occurred with the fall of Judaism in 70 A.D." This is the exact wording of a proposition
that King affined in a debate with Gus Nichols in July of 1973, a debate that was later
published.2 The quoted words also appeared on the masthead of a periodical called Studies
in Bible Prophecy, edited by Charles E. Geiser, that began to be published in March of 1978
espousing King's A.D. 70 theory.3 In theological circles such a view is called "realized
eschatology." King and his followers use this term frequently, but often speak of "fulfilled
eschatology" and sometimes "preterism" as well. King himself explains:
By "realized eschatology" we mean the fulfillment of every aspect of God's purpose

relative to the complete restoration of man through Christ. This takes in all promises.
prophecies. types, patterns. Figures and shadows in Old Testament Scripture with respect to
"things to come" in terms of the New and everlasting Covenant. From this perspective, we
hold that every facet of eschatology in New Testament Scripture fulfilled the prophesied end
of the Old Testament dispensation ... There is nothing more to be written and nothing more
to be fulfilled. God's work through Christ is finished. It is full. complete and everlasting. The
introduction to King's book was written by his father-in-law, C.D. Beagle. Beagle says that
the book offers a "new view of the scriptures" and claims it to be "the most enlightening book
ever written about Bible prophecy and its fulfillment" (p. v). And though King asserts it to
be "scripturally sound." this writer will state his evaluation of it as one of the most unsound
and misleading books on prophecy ever written. A combination of the prophetic views of the
so-called Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-Day Adventists, Mormons and Herbert Armstrong
all rolled into one could hardly be more farfetched than the views of the A.D. 70 theory of
Max King. It is not only a wrong view of the future but a wrong view of the past as well. Paul
denounced two first-century men "who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the
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resurrection is past already, and overthrow the faith of some" (2 Tim. 2:t8). Max King and
his disciples have made the same mistake. Their views are not only false but dangerous,
casting serious disparagement on the cross of Christ and denying the biblical hope of faithful
Christians. Such views must be opposed.
THE CHALLENGE OF THE A.D. 70 THEORY
After Max King had openly set forth his views in 1971, both orally in various
preachers' meetings and in print, this doctrinal deviation began to come to the attention of
brethren in other places. It was dealt with publicly by Guy Woods and Gus Nichols at the
1972 Freed-Hardeman Lectures. Then Gus Nichols included a refutation of it in his prepared
material for the 1973 Freed-Hardeman Lectures under the headings of the second coming,
the resurrection, judgment, and heaven and hell.
In July of that year King and Nichols met for a four-night debate on the subject.
Meanwhile, early in 1973 Robert Taylor began a series of articles in First Century Chrisian
to review and refute the thesis of King's book. Those articles are now available as part of a
book of helpful materials relating to and refuting the realized eschatology of the A.D. 70
theory. 6 Then in 1975 Max King and Jim McGuiggan engaged in a written debate of four
propositions centered around King's views. a book which is still in print 7 This A.D. 70 theory
was refuted again in 1978 by Flavil Nichols at the Fort Worth Lectures and by Charles Aebi
at the Freed Hardeman Lectures. both treatments being included in the lectureship books. S
In 1981 Terry Varner published a volume on eschatology dealing with this errant doctrine. 9
ln 1984 this writer himself dealt with it at the Southwest Lectures in Austin. and it was printed
in the lectureship book. 10 That same year Terry Varner treated it again in oral and written
form for the Annual Denton Lectures. while Joe Connell dealt with it at the Magnolia Bible
College Lectures, both lectures being printed. lI Goebel Music also produced a chapter on it
for the 1987 Fort Worth Lectures.
Finally, Wayne Jackson has produced a most helpful recent volume, setting forth
Bible teaching which will refute the notion of realized eschatology. Meanwhile, several
preachers converted to King's A.D. 70 theory. And a number of churches in various states
have been either troubled, split or swallowed up by this perverted doctrine of the last things.
For several years, the West Avenue congregation in Ashtabula. Ohio. conducted a preacher
training school under the name of the Northeast Ohio Bible Institute to promote these views.
This was; under the leadership of the same men who published Studies in Bible Prophecy.
For a while Max King seemed to be fading into the background while others took a more
active leading role in the movement.
During this time Charles Geiser and Terry Varner engaged in an unpublished written
debate on the subject. As King's disciples continued to push their theory, other publications
came out setting forth and defending their views. Some of the more prominent titles are One
Day as a Thousand Year, A Word Study of Time Statements in the Bible, The Graves: John
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5:28, The Second Coming of Christ and Ye Do Shew the Lord's Death till He Come, all by
Charles Geiser. Also, there is The Messiah's Return: Delayed? Fulfilled? or Double-
Fulfillment? by Timothy James. The Last Days by Ron McRay. and What Happened in 70
A.D.? by Ed Stevens.
In recent years some things have changed. Both the school and the paper at Ashtabula
have ceased. Meanwhile. Max King was working behind the scenes on other literary
productions to enlarge on his views, and some of these have now seen the light of day. In
1987, He came out with a massive volume of 784 pages called The Cross and the Parousia
of Christ, which especially expands on his views of the resurrection, and in 1990 he authored
Old Testament Israel and New Testament Salvation, the first in a series of smaller books. 15
(It is noteworthy that Max King has not attempted to reply in these recent works to any of
the critical reviews mentioned above.) Don Preston, a recent convert to the preterist position,
also has a book out on 2 Peter 3.16 Finally, a new monthly periodical espousing these views
began to be published in August of 1990 with Max King as editor. These materials need to
be studied by anyone seeking to deal with the A.D. theory today.
In the beginning, King's views seemed to be set forth cautiously and tentatively. His
first oral presentation of the subject described it as "my theory." He said, 'This is for you to
think about; this is for you to study. "18 And the opening page of King's book refers
diplomatically to "the author's belief." However. it did not take long for King to accuse those
who disagreed with his views as being guilty of "exegetical irresponsibility" and
"recklessness." "distorting the truth" and actual "sin" (pp. 43,100.227). One must therefore
see the serious challenge of the Max King doctrine. Likewise, King's disciple Ed Stevens
began his booklet on A.D. 70 with a foreword mildly describing it as “a view of prophecy)”
which some have found interesting and helpful," but before he finished eight pages he wrote
the following incredible statement: "How dare God give a detailed account of the death of
some pagan emperor and devote a whole book of prophecy to the Christian triumph over his
persecution, and not write one word about his chosen people's massive destruction! The very
idea is revolting!!!!!!!" (Yes, all seven exclamation points are there.) What is actually
revolting is the audacity and irreverence displayed by the proponents of this doctrinal
deviation. The advocates of the A.D. 70 theory have accused all others of denying the
inspired word of God. This is a grave charge and demonstrates the seriousness with which
the challenge of this movement must be met.
THE BACKGROUND OF THE A.D. 70 THEORY
Max King did not originate the A.D. 70 theory of eschatology (the biblical doctrine
of final things). Among our brethren, C.D. Beagle seems to have been the first to adopt it. In
the introduction to King's book. Beagle says. "Several years ago, I started a study of the
church and the kingdom as I believed it was taught in the parables. and in the book of
Revelation" (p. v). Notice that Beagle's statement appears to say that he "believed" these
views before starting his study. One can only assume that he did the study in order to justify
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preconceived ideas. In the bibliography of What Happened in 70 A.D.? by Ed Stevens. it is
advertised that copies of an 1887 (originally 1878) book on The Parousia (the second coming
of Christ) by James Stuart Russell may be obtained from A.D. 70 promoters. W. Terry
Varner. in a very helpful book on this movement, has suggested that Russell is the source of
these novel views and that later writers added their contribution to the theory until it was
finally picked up by these erring brethren.
The A.D. 70 doctrine of Max King is simply a variation on "realized eschatology"

ideas of the past. Building on the views of Albert Schweitzer a quarter of a century earlier.
C.H. Dodd popularized this term in his books on the parables (1935) and apostolic preaching
(1936). Dodd thought that eschatology was fulfilled in the life, death and resurrection of
Jesus, and he saw no reference to a future corning of Christ at all. Yet in a later work (1951)
Dodd did acknowledge some shadowy expectation of seeing Christ at the consummation of
history. Dodd was followed in this thinking by Joachim Jeremias in a monograph on the
parables (1954) and by John A.T. Robinson. who in two books (1950 and 1957) declared that
judgment day is "every day" and denied that Jesus ever taught that he would actually return
from heaven. Robinson spoke of "inaugurated eschatology"-that Jesus' death and resurrection
would immediately initiate the biblical "last things." The current A.D. 70 theory is the fruit
of this kind of erroneous interpretation. in which Jesus' resurrection inaugurates the time of
the end and A.D. 70 finishes it. The end of the world has come and we are now in heaven
enjoying our eternal reward. One almost wonders about the intelligence of those who accept
such a misguided doctrine as this.
While the aforementioned prophetic misinterpretations of certain denominational

writers may have contributed to the onset of the King movement, we cannot overlook the
contributions of some brethren as well. The late Pay E. Wallace, Jr. was an influential
preacher who will always be held in high regard by those who understand and appreciate the
great work he did in his devastation of the doctrine of premillennialism. But he was mistaken
in his interpretation of the book of Revelation. Perhaps it was his zeal to counteract the
prophetic literalness of the premillennial persuasion that led him to so spiritualize Revelation
ac; to see no reference at all to judgment day or heaven and hell in chapters 20-22. Such an
extreme preterist view of that book has surely contributed to the Max King doctrine. Brother
Wallace gave too much significance to the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and thought that the
close of Revelation simply depicted the victory of the church over Judaism (with some
secondary overtones of victory over all the forces of heathenism in the ancient world). The
King view of eschatology has taken Wallace's primary view and driven it to its logical
conclusion. Whereas Wallace noted that "the doctrine of the resurrection from the dead and
the future eternal punishment of the wicked" are "abundantly taught elsewhere in numerous
scriptures," and that our future life in heaven is taught there as well. he could find none of
these in Revelation. These later interpreters cannot find them anywhere in the Bible.
Advocates of the A.D. 70 theory have given notice of Wallace's commentary on Revelation
in support of their views.
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Let it be remembered that Max King simply took a spiritualistic view of end-time
elements in the parables and Revelation and then extended such a view to the epistles as well.
And this is how he ended up with his grievous errors. One final contribution to the A.D. 70
doctrine should be observed. It has become a fad among some in the church over the past
couple of decades to reinterpret Matthew 24 and 2 Peter 3 as having to do simply with the
end of Jerusalem and not at all with the end of time. Such is a mishandling of God's word.
and this too has added fuel to the fires of the King movement. For example. their literature
lists Gerald Wright's Second Peter Three as one of several "books which teach a similar view
of prophecy." Anyone who adopts such a view needs to seriously consider the direction he
has taken and where consistency will lead him. And anyone who interprets the whole of
Matthew 24 in reference to the destruction of Jerusalem needs to see that he must logically
continue such an application through chapter 25 as well. as some few (but more consistent)
extremists have done. all of which plays into the hands of the A.D. 70 advocates.
For a thorough refutation of such notions and a proper division between the fall of
Jerusalem and the end of the world at Matthew 24:35. the reader should consult the excellent
works of Kik, Murray and Deaver, among others. King is in special need of more study since
he fails to notice that "all these things" that would be fulfilled in that generation were the
things Jesus had just mentioned up through verse 34. not the things of the new topic that
Jesus was about to discuss.
THE ROOT OF KING'S ERRORS
As already noted, King's basic approach in his book is to challenge our understanding
of the manner of prophecy's fulfillment. He begins his discussion by trying to establish some
new "interpretative rules" that will bolster his position that end-time prophecy bas basically
a non-material rather than a material fulfillment. His first rule is "to assume that the nature
or the spirit of prophecy" (as King interprets Revelation 19:10) must be in harmony with the
work of Christ which "was and is spiritual" (p. 2). But King has made two unwarranted
assumptions.
First, "the spirit of prophecy" (Rev. 19:10) does not mean the nature of prophecy (its
application or manner of fulfillment) but rather speaks of the source of prophecy or the
purpose behind it -"the heart of all prophecy." An angel identified it as "the testimony of
Jesus," an expression that stands in correlation with "the word of God" (Rev. 1:2). Jesus'
revelation is the inspiration of prophecy-what is in back of it. The expression has nothing to
do with the nature of prophetic fulfillment. Second, Jesus' work was to elevate the "spiritual"
as opposed to the "carnal" or worldly (1 Cor. 3: I), but it has nothing to do with elevating the
non- material over the material. Jesus was raised from the dead in a material body of "flesh
and bones" (Luke 24:39) that could be "seen" or "beheld" with the naked eye (Acts 1:2). And
our resurrection body will be just like his (Phil. 3:21), not limited to some figurative, non-
material resurrection represented by the existence of the church (the spiritual body of Christ)
as Max King teaches. It is revealing to see the direction King's thinking traveled in order to
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arrive at its far-fetched conclusions. He started with the truth that many elements of the Old
Covenant were more physical than elements in the New Covenant. and he then decided that
"all prophecy" of the New must be "spiritual"-meaning nonmaterial (pp. v, 22). In his over-
reaction to the literal expectations of premillennialists, King has run to the opposite extreme.
Over and over he equates physical terminology such as literal. earthly. material and
tangible with such ungodly terms as fleshly and carnal (pp. 2-4). While saying he does not
mean "to imply that material things are by nature opposed to spiritual things," King
nevertheless does imply this and thinks that "the hermeneutical principle of spiritual
interpretation" was "established in chapter one" of his book (pp. 8, 19). So, intent is King on
this non-material idea that he thinks Christ "exited" his body upon leaving earth (p. 3).
The basic error of King brings to mind the ancient philosophy of dualism where
everything physical is bad and everything non-physical is good. But King's error is evident,
for the New Covenant did not eliminate material realities. (I) Christ was; and is material and
will return someday in the same body that was seen going into heaven (Acts I: II; cf. I John
3:2; Rev. 1:7). (2) Though it is true that God's children are "born after the SPIRIT" (p. 18),
they are still literal children and they are not non-material! (3) While the New Covenant has
"spiritual sacrifices" (p. 19), those sacrifices still involve such physical items as "bodies"
(Rom. 12:1) and "the fruit of lips" (Heb. 13:15). (4) Though God's kingdom under the New
Covenant would be raised by Christ "from an earthly to a heavenly state" (p. 20), Christ was;
still literally born of the literal seed of David (Isa. 9:6, 7) and the literal seed of Abraham
(Gen. 13:15; Mt. 1:1). (5) While the New Covenant has less physical elements in its
ordinances than did the Old (pp. 12, 14), the Lord's supper and baptism nevertheless have
both material and non-material aspects. (6) And though under the New Covenant "the
priesthood is also spiritual" (p. 16), these spiritual priests (Christians) are in material bodies.
King's whole basic starting point in his book is philosophical rather than biblical, and it is
wrong. King thinks that by pointing out spiritual elements in the New Covenant he can
completely spiritualize away the resurrection, judgment day, heaven and hell. Nothing could
be further from the truth.
KING'S PROBLEMS WITH TIME PROPHECIES
King's preface to his book identities not only the manner but also the time of prophetic
fulfillment as being in need of reconstruction. Reinterpreting the whole New Testament (and
some of the Old as well) according to his view of the book of Revelation, King thinks that
all the events of that book "have had their primary fulfillment already" (pp. 16, 38) since
John was writing of things that would "shortly come to pass" and which were "at hand" (Rev.
I: I, 3). However. if Revelation had nothing to do with the first century this would pose no
problem for us such as King supposes, tor in prophetic passages certainty is often expressed
in terms of imminence (Psa. 40:17; Isa. 46:13).
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Though God's promises or predictions may seem to "tarry," man is told to "wait for
it, because it will surely come, it will not delay" (Hab. 2:3). It is true that the book of
Revelation predicted many things that were to soon come upon Christians, and the book did
relate to current conditions at the time it was written. However. one must not think that every
last thing in the book was to fall into the immediate future, for the book itself gives notice of
a vast period of time by the symbolic "thousand years" (Rev. 20:2-7), with the final end
occurring after that. Nor does Jesus' promise to come "quickly" (Rev. 22:7, 12, 20) mean
"immediately" in this context, for the adverb tachu basically means "swiftly" or "speedily"
(cf. the cognate in Luke 18:8) rather than "soon."
On the other hand. King's doctrine poses insurmountable problems for him with
regard to prophetic time references both in and out of the book of Revelation. In chapter four
of his book King refers to the prophetic "seventy weeks" of Daniel 9:24-27 as "the heart of
Bible prophecy." Except for taking these as weeks of years (490 years) as they are usually
interpreted, King all of a sudden gets very literal here and violates his "spiritual"
interpretation of prophecy. Ironically, though, King has to resort to the methods of
premillennialists by placing a "gap" of 31 years between the 69th and 70th weeks in order to
make it work out right according to his preconceived timetable. He has the 70th week
occurring in full of A.D. 63-70.
This means that Jerusalem had to be destroyed before God could finish transgression,
make an end of sins, make reconciliation for iniquity, and bring in everlasting righteousness
a<; stated in verse 24. What does this do to the effect of the cross of Christ? It postpones it
for about 40 years. Such a scheme as this makes Peter tell the Jews on the day of Pentecost
that if they will repent and be baptized they can receive remission of sins half a lifetime later,
if they should be fortunate enough to live that long. Not only that but meanwhile they would
still be under the Law of Moses, for it would not be taken away until A.D. 70 according to
King's interpretation of Matthew 5: 17. 18. And this completely nullifies Paul's statements
about the removal of the law such as in Colossians 2:14 and Ephesians 2:15. This
demonstrates why the A.D. 70 theory is such a serious error.
Another problem King has with prophetic time is in regard to the "thousand years" of
Revelation 20. King fits the "last half of Revelation, from chapter ten on" into A.D. 63-70,
the supposed 70th week of Daniel (p. 53). The thousand-year binding of Satan and the
corresponding resurrection and reign of the saints (Rev. 20:2-7) occurs in the "middle" of
that 70th week, says King. King is already in trouble trying to squeeze such a long period of
time as represented by the symbolic "thousand years" into just seven actual years. But his
credibility suffers even more when the seven years are further reduced. King says that before
the thousand-year reign and binding of Satan there is the "little season" of Revelation 6: [[ -
a literal three-and-a-half years. And after the thousand-year reign and binding of Satan there
is the "little season" of Revelation 20:3- another literal three-and-a-half year. And all of this
occurs within a literal seven-year period (pp. 347-352).
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How much time does this leave for the symbolic thousand years? Not even fraction
of a second! No wonder King has to conclude that the "thousand years" does not refer to any
time at all least one have "insurmountable problems" (p. 350). With a view such as King's,
one's problems truly arc insurmountable. Throughout his book, King tries over and over to
convince us that the New Testament doctrine of the resurrection is fulfilled at the destruction
of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, and then he ends up by having it take place three-and-a-half years
too soon and having the ensuing thousand-year reign stop the moment it begins. Perhaps this
is why King says that in his book "Biblical eschatology is reconstructed to fit ... " (p. 255). It
simply will not fit any other way.
BASIC ERRORS OF THE A.D. 70 THEORY
Max King thinks he proved his case in the third chapter of his book. He later refers
back to that section by saying, "The author's position is made clear in chapter 3. where
indisputable evidence is presented that identifies the world marked for removal as the Jewish
world . . ." (p. 181). There he mentions over and over the "allegorical method" which he seeks
to establish for the interpretation of all prophecy. He uses Paul's allegory of Abraham's two
sons to set up a premise for an allegorical interpretation of the rest of the New Testament.
This conclusion will not follow, though, for there is a difference between the interpretation
of allegory and allegorical interpretation.
King makes some assumptions in this chapter on which the entire thesis of his book
is based. He states that Ishmael and Isaac "existed side by side for a time in the same
household" and that "this is a truth that is vital to the teachings of the New Testament, and
will be a key factor in the study and application of prophecy" (pp. 29, 30). He says that the
prophetic understanding he opposes "can be attributed to a failure to recognize this simple
but vital truth" (p. 30).
Out of this King gets these points: (I) Since Ishmael and Isaac coexisted for a while.
so also, Judaism and Christianity coexisted from Pentecost to the destruction of Jerusalem.
He fails to understand that Judaism was "cast out" at the cross rather than at A.D. 70, so that
there was no longer any spiritual distinction between Jew and Gentile (Gal. 3:28). When
Jesus became our High Priest at the outset of the Christian age, the law was changed (Heb.
7: 12) and Jewish Christians were "discharged" from it (Rom. 7:6).
Also, (2) King thinks that Isaac received his inheritance at the time Ishmael was cast
out, and he therefore believes that Christians received their full inheritance at the destruction
of Jerusalem. King's Old Testament history is a bit rusty. Ishmael never was going to receive
the promised inheritance. and Isaac never fully received it until more than four-hundred years
later when his seed inherited the promised land. King is confusing adoption with inheritance.
We are heirs now in a limited sense. We have "things present" (which existed before A.D.
70!) and we will have "things to come" (I Cor. 3:22).
580
As heirs, we suffer with Christ now so that in eternity "we may be also glorified with
him" (Rom. 8: 17). Then too, (3) King thinks that since "Ishmael was born after the flesh
(Gal. 4:23) and Isaac was born after the Spirit (Gal. 4:29)" (p. 31), Paul was showing that
Christians (represented by Isaac) were to have a "spiritual" (nonmaterial) inheritance. King's
error here is a failure to see that Paul does not present the allegory to tell what was to be
inherited but rather who was to do the inheriting. With the above misinterpretations, King
concludes that "the center and heart of prophecy is not Pentecost" but "the fall of Jerusalem"
(p. 33).
This is the heart of Max King's theory. With his disjointed thinking about Ishmael.
Isaac and A.D. 70, King announces that "it is evident" and that "one may rightly conclude"
that his whole scheme of things is true (p. 34). It all boils down to Ishmael and Isaac
representing two different worlds, says King: whenever scripture speaks about the "end of
the world" it refers to the end of Judaism (Ishmael), whereas the "world to come" is the
establishment of Christianity (Isaac). And the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 is when it
all took place. King says that "a fusion of either of these two worlds with the material heaven
and earth can result in mass confusion in the study of God's scheme of redemption" (p. 33).
We must point out, though, that since the A.D. 70 theory's whole foundation is untrue, it is
the King movement that is riddled with confusion.
With King's faulty premises, let us notice briefly some erroneous conclusions these
interpreters come up with. (I) The destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 was the second coming
of Christ, and he will never come again. (2) Heaven and earth passed away in A.D. 70 and
the expression simply refers to Judaism. (3) The "new heavens and new earth" prophecy in
scripture is simply a reference to Christianity as it was established in A.D. 70. (4) A.D. 70
was therefore the end of the world and the beginning of eternal life. (5) A.D. 70 was the day
of resurrection when Christ descended with a shout, the voice of the archangel, and the trump
of God. (6) The dead in Christ who were to be raised were Jews who were then joined with
the Jiving (Christians) to ever be with Christ since A.D. 70. (7) A.D. 70 is when the whole
creation was delivered from the bondage of corruption, and since then there has not been any
more death, sorrow or tears. (8) A.D. 70 was also judgment day when Christ came to render
to every man according to his works. (9) A.D. 70 was the time of the establishment of the
eternal kingdom. (10) All prophecy was fulfilled by A.D. 70 so that now whatever lies in the
future is part of the secret things that belong only to God.
On and on we could go with this run-down on the A.D. 70 theory, along with a
refutation of all these various sub-points, but any thinking person with a Bible in his hand
can see the gross errors and contradictions of plain passages from the word of God. The truth
is that while figurative meanings do exist in certain portions of scripture in connection with
such terms as resurrection, judgment, coming, world, and heaven, the figurative does not
exclude the literal. The destruction of the Jewish temple in A.D. 70 simply erased from view
the visible representation of the Old Covenant (Heb. 8: 13), but God was finished with it 40
years earlier when he rent the veil from top to bottom (Mt. 27:51).
581
Nor did A.D. 70 wipe out Judaism, for it still exists today. The destruction of
Jerusalem was catastrophic for many Jews but not for Gentiles. Paul was not warning the
Thessalonians against letting the destruction of Jerusalem overtake them a<; a thief (1 Thess.
5:4), for it had no bearing on Gentile Christians in northern Greece! Unbelieving Gentiles
did not receive any condemnation nor did believing ones receive any eternal reward at that
time. Whatever they had after A.D. 70 they also had before A.D. 70. just as the Ephesians
had already (when Paul wrote in the 60s) been "raised" in a spiritual sense to sit "in the
heavenly places in Christ" (Eph. 2:6). And in spite of this figurative language, there still
remains a literal heaven. When Jesus ascended he literally went "into heaven itself' (Heb.
9:24), and it was there that "as a forerunner Jesus entered for us" (Heb. 6:20). We received
no inheritance of any kind in A.D. 70. Our inheritance is "reserved in heaven" (I Pet. 1:4),
that same literal heaven where Jesus returned to "prepare a place" for us (John 14:2). And he
will literally come again "in like manner" as he went (Acts 1:11).
CONCLUSION
The A.D. 70 theory is a grave and serious error that has the potential of jeopardizing
the souls of men. It is simply the floundering attempts to invent a different doctrine on the
part of some who are "ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth."
It is wrong, it reflects negatively on the cross of Christ, and it tends toward mysticism and
universalism. The advocates of the A.D. 70 theory cannot agree with scripture, nor can they
agree with themselves. After spending hundreds of pages trying to convince us that all
prophecies have been fulfilled and that we have now received our heavenly reward and have
been raised from the dead, King finally admitted to a "secondary application" of resurrection
passages "to the believer himself and his spiritual state" (p. 199) so that man can have "his
spiritual body at death" (p. 211).
How strange that King can finally own up to two different applications in
"resurrection" passages but only one figurative meaning in passages on Christ's "coming."
On page 27 of his book King said that "only the right method of interpretation can be
advanced entirely free of contradiction, inconsistency, or disharmony." Any careful reader
can see that King's interpretation fails on all counts. It contradicts itself and, more important,
it contradicts the word of God. It is therefore to be rejected by every faithful Christian.
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “Advancing Christianity” -1991, Gary Workman: The
A.D 70 Theory. Pages 300-312.
582
Error
ERROR
583
THE A.D 70 THEORY ARGUMENTS I
(Max R. King)
I would like to emphasize just here that this is what I am talking about. "THE TIME
OF THE END. We are not talking about. "the end of time." but. "the time of the end." And
you note there is a difference.
It is my firm conviction that all of the prophecies and types of the Bible are centered
in Jesus Christ, and in Him they found their complete and total fulfillment. I believe that all
predictive language, that all predictive statements in the Bible, were directed toward Jesus
Christ, and in and through Him they have come to their fulfillment. And this fulfillment was
accomplished during the period of His TOTAL ministry. Let me stress this tonight: His
TOTAL ministry. In just a few minutes I hope to explain what I mean by His total ministry.
• In 1 Peter 1:11, they were not permitted to see because the time of fulfillment
was beyond their day… The time, however, we believe was to come. When was
this? We affirm that it had its beginning with the ministry of Jesus Christ upon
this earth.
• In Matthew 5:17, here is a time limitation. "I have come to fulfill," and not one
jot or tittle shall fail or pass from the law till it is done, and the passing of heaven
and earth is the time specified for the completion of that fulfillment. Therefore,
the period of fulfillment extends beyond the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ.
I mentioned about fulfillment coming during the period of His total ministry. And the
total ministry of Jesus is not confined to His earthly ministry; for the whole ministry of Jesus
extends throughout that of the Holy Spirit, as given in miraculous form, to the apostles and
other inspired men of the New Testament. The work of the Holy Spirit was the work of Jesus
Christ. And so, the spokesman of God, Jesus Christ, covers a period of time which the Bible
designates as the "last days" (Hebrews 1: 1, 2).
• In Acts 1:6, here is a question indicating that the restoration work is not yet
complete: "Are you going to restore the kingdom at this time?" And Jesus said,
"It is not for you to know the times or the seasons which the Father has put in His
own power." So, the time of restoration, the time of fulfilling, is to be continued.
How long? To what time?
• In Acts 3:19, Peter said heaven must receive Christ until the times of the
restoration, and it is the same word as in Acts 1:6… So, I affirm this evening that
the period of fulfillment continued through the earthly ministry of Jesus.
• In I Corinthians 2:9, So now the things the prophets could not see, and could not
know, are being revealed. It is my conviction that the Holy Spirit was not removed
in his ministry until every prophecy, type, shadow, and figure reached its
complete fulfillment, bringing at last, "that which is perfect," of which Christ
Himself is the very Sum and Substance (2 Corinthians 3:17,18).
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Now when was this time? Our proposition affirms that it was at the end, the
consummation, the complete transition, the restitution, or the regeneration period of time,
which was at the end of fleshly Israel, as represented in the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.
Because it was to her the prophets spoke, and it was through her that the prophecies and the
types were carried along until the time of fulfillment in those last days. The ministry of the
Holy Spirit was to be extended, then, until all was fulfilled.
• In Peter 4:7, Peter wrote that the end of all things was "at hand." Is at hand. What?
The "end of all things." And that is what Jesus said: "Heaven and earth shall not
pass till all be fulfilled;" not "till the end of all things." And it was "at hand" when
Peter wrote.
• In Romans 13: 11, 12, Paul said, "The night is far spent, the day is at hand," and
upon that basis said, "Now is our salvation nearer than when we first believed."
When would the glory follow? This is the question for now. We know when the
suffering was; when would the glory follow?
In Matthew 24:3, the three-fold question of the disciples - "What shall be the sign of
these things?" or, "when shall these things be?" (that is, the destruction of the temple) and,
"what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" - and Jesus gave them
the signs in answer to their question, throughout the chapter, speaking of when these things
would take place, and said in verse 34: "Verily I say unto you this generation shall not pass
away till all these things be fulfilled." He didn't say one third of them. He didn't say two-
thirds of them. He said, till ALL THESE THINGS be fulfilled. These are related events, all
related to the same time, to which Luke adds two; the coming of the kingdom (Luke 21: 31)
, and the redemption of the saints (Luke 21:28).
Thus, we have five related things that were going to be fulfilled in the span of that
generation. Therefore, there is no process of exegesis, no logical exegesis, that can separate
these questions and these events time-wise and event-wise. They are related. They stand
together. The whole context shows this, as well as other related scriptures, and no one can
divide the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew and the questions of the apostles, and separate
them by two thousand years in time. They belong to THAT GENERATION, and in THAT
GENERATION, they came to pass, and in that' generation came the end time. In THAT
GENERATION we have, then, the fulfilling of all things written in the law and in the
prophets. THEN heaven and earth passed away, referring of course to Judaism, which is a
very logical symbol.
Source: The Nichols-Kings debate held at Warren Ohio. July 17-20, 1973. Pages 1-6.
585
THE A.D 70 THEORY ARGUMENTS II
(Max R. King)
My affirmative is, that "world to come" will be forever, and will never pass away. I
would use as proof of this a statement from the apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:21: "Unto him be
glory ill the church throughout all ages, world without end." That is the world that I affirm
will never come to an end. I am not looking for it to end. I don't believe that it shall ever end.
But it was a world that followed "this world." It was the "world to come" (Hebrews 2: 5), the
world to come, which would be in subjection to Jesus, and not to angels.
Let us identify the WORLD of our proposition. Let us identify the world of our
discussion. It is the one that is in contrast with "this world" in Matthew 12:32. Jesus said,
concerning the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven man in "this world,"
nor, "the world to come." My proposition deals with "the world to come." And that is the
world that I contend will never end. If we can have the identity' of "this world," then we
ought to be able to have the proper contrast to "the world to come."
The author does believe, however, that the day of judgment that resulted in the
establishment of the eternal kingdom at the coming of Christ transpired in the end of that
world (Matt. 24: 14), being necessary to complete the redemption begun at the cross."
That is just one statement of many from the book in which we affirm there is judgment
in process today, and I affirm there shall be judgment in process as long as there is an orderly
divine system under which men live, whether be here or there.
When we talk about the establishment of the kingdom, we are not talking about its
beginning, but we are talking about the time it comes in power. Just as, when we talk about
the coming of Jesus, we are not talking about the beginning of Jesus, but we are talking about
the time that the epiphaneia of Christ takes place, the time that He is "manifested" as King
of kings and Lord of lords, and how this is done we shall set forth to show. This is what we
mean with respect to the coming of the kingdom with power, or the coming of Jesus in that
kingdom in power.
In Luke 21:31 Jesus said, "When ye see these things come to pass, know the kingdom
of God is nigh, even AT HAND." Now what things was He talking about? …I affirm that He
was talking about things that were going to happen in the end-time of national Israel, and He
refers to this as the coming of the kingdom, "at hand."
He (Gus Nichols) gives as evidence that the kingdom came in power on Pentecost,
the statement of Acts one, verse eight, where Jesus said to the apostles, "But ye shall receive
power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you." To me, there is a vast difference in the
apostles' receiving power by their reception of the Holy Spirit, and Jesus coming in power in
His kingdom. Jesus is not mentioned there, and the kingdom is not mentioned. But the
apostles are the object of the power that was going to be received at the giving of the Holy
Spirit on that day.
586
Paul said to the Thessalonians, "Concerning the times and the seasons, ye have no
need that I write unto you." They had not yet come. And so we know the times and the
seasons for the restoration of the kingdom extend beyond the day of Pentecost, and to affirm
that the kingdom came in power on Pentecost is to contradict every scripture in the Bible that
deals with the coming of the kingdom in power. Not its beginning; we affirm repeatedly that
the kingdom had its beginning on Pentecost.
The coming of Jesus is the coming of His kingdom. 2 Timothy 4: 1: "I charge thee
before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ. who shall judge the quick and the dead at HIS
APPEARING AND HIS KINGDOM." (emphasis mine, MRK)
I affirm this evening that our proposition is established in Matthew 24, because it is
the second corning of Jesus, the end of the world, the establishment of the kingdom,
transpiring in the fall of Judaism, as represented in the fall of Jerusalem; I affirm that that
chapter is indivisible…
The time period of the fulfilling of all things and the manner
We have affirmed that this fulfillment extends through the TOTAL ministry of Jesus,
not just His earthly. but continuing till the passing of heaven and earth. or until "the end of
all things" as stated in Matthew 5: 18, and confirmed in Acts 1:6, and repeated in Acts 3: 19-
21. The times of the restitution of all things are not until Jesus comes again, and so, brother
Nichols will either have to take the position that the law has not yet been totally fulfilled, or
that Jesus has already come.
• One: "The fulfillment of all things." When? Not till heaven and earth pass.
(Matthew 5:17).
• Two: "Not till the end of all things" (Matthew 5: 18),
• Three: "Not till He shall send Jesus Christ" (Acts 3: 19-21). We affirm, then, that
all things would not be fulfilled or restored until the coming of Jesus Christ.
• Four: "Not until the sounding of the seventh trumpet" (Revelation 10:7) … John
was writing of things, "at hand." What does, "at hand," mean? The same thing as
in Matthew 3:2. John was writing of things that must "shortly come to pass."
• Five: "Not till the perfect is come." In I Corinthians 13: 10 the apostle Paul said,
"when that which is perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away."
Certainly, the time of the fulfilling of all things would not be until the arriving of
the perfect, and it had not yet arrived when Paul wrote I Corinthians 13: 10.
NOW WHEN?
1. When the gospel is preached into all the world, which Paul affirmed in Colossians
1:23 and Romans 10 had already been accomplished in that day.
o What follows? "Wherefore, when ye see the abomination of desolation
spoken by Daniel the prophet," connecting with verse 14, and what is, "the
abomination of desolation spoken by Daniel the prophet?"
587
o To what event does Jesus apply that? "Let him that is on the house top not
come down." He is talking about the end of a world, the end of an age, the
end of a heaven and earth, which is common terminology with reference
to any system, whether it be political or religious.
2. When Jesus said He would fulfill all things written in the law and the prophets (1
Peter 4:7; Hebrews 10:37; James 5:8; Revelation 1:1, 3; Matthew 16:28; 24:30;
Luke 21:31).
3. "Not till the sounding of the seventh trumpet." Matthew 24: "This generation shall
not pass till all these things be fulfilled." There is the sounding of the trumpet;
there is the gathering of the saints; there is the coming of Jesus; there is the end
of the world; there is the destruction of the temple - all in the same context,
undivided.
4. "Not till the perfect comes." And the perfect came. Does anyone want to affirm
that the perfect has not come? If so, we should have the Holy Spirit today. The
last days were the days of the fulfillment of all prophecy.
Source: The Nichols-Kings debate held at Warren Ohio. July 17-20, 1973. Pages 11-17.
588
THE A.D 70 THEORY ARGUMENTS III
(Max R. King)
I believe that the whole covenant did not come on Pentecost Day. I believe "the
perfect" did not come until the "end of all things." That was when heaven and earth passed,
Matt 5: 17, when all things would be fulfilled, or not until the end of all things. I Pet. 4: 7
states, "The end of all things is at hand."
They were members of that new covenant, but it was not a complete covenant. Their
responsibility was always extended as far as the revelation given to them, and as far as their
opportunity to know the truth of God's word.
That's why the earnest of the Spirit was given: because they did not have the whole
covenant, and the earnest of the spirit was to guide, to teach, and to reveal, until the perfect
came, or until "the redemption of the purchased possession" that we mentioned a while ago.
Then, when all was revealed, the miraculous gifts of the spirit, the inspirational teaching, and
the guidance of it, was no longer needed.
That's the time, then, when everything was COMPLETELY established. We're
affirming, then, that that perfect state, that new heaven and earth that John pictures in Rev.
21, is at that period of time, not at the time of Pentecost, but at the period of time when all of
this spiritual heritage is brought to the new Israel of God.
Source: The Nichols-Kings debate held at Warren Ohio. July 17-20, 1973. Pages 130.
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Anglo-Israelism
ANGLO-ISRAELISM
590
DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. This doctrine teaches that the ten tribes were lost (Israelites) when the Jews were
captured by the Assyrians under King Sargon and that these so-called “lost” tribes
are in reality Saxae or Scythians, who surged westward through Northern Europe and
eventually became the ancestors of the Saxons, who later invaded England.
2. The theory maintains that the Anglo-Saxons are the “lost” tribes of Israel, and are
substituted, in Anglo-Israel interpretation and exegesis, for the Israel of the Bible.
Doctrine Defeated.
1. Israel and Judah came as one according to Ezekiel (37:15-17).
2. There is no evidence that support such theory in the Bible.
3. When they came back from captivity they were recognized as Israel (Ezra 6:17)
4. In the New Testament, we find that the word “Jew” was applied to Israel, and those
of Israel were referred to as Jews (Matthew 2:2; Acts 2:5, 22; 13:16; Galatian 2:15;
Philippians 3:5).
5. This doctrine does not have biblical foundation.
591
True
TRUE
592
ANGLO-ISRAELISM AND DISPENSATIONALISM
(William S. Cline)
Anglo-Israelism, is properly speaking neither a sect nor a cult since it transcends

denominational lines and does not set up an ecclesiastical organization. It has existed for
more than a century in the United States, having come from England. Apparently, it
originated there shortly after the close of the Elizabethan era. Its “first apostle” was Richard
Brothers (1757-1824).
The most vocal proponents of the Anglo-Israelic system of Biblical interpretation in

North America are James Lovell of Ft. Worth, Texas and Howard Rand of Destiny
Publishers. Third in line to the above men is Herbert W. Armstrong.
A. A Summary of the Theories of Anglo-Israelism.
1. The basic premise of the Anglo-Israelite theory is that ten tribes were lost
(Israelites) when the Jews were captured by the Assyrians under King Sargon and that these
so-called “lost” tribes are in reality Saxae or Scythians, who surged westward through
Northern Europe and eventually became the ancestors of the Saxons, who later invaded
England.1 The theory maintains that the Anglo-Saxons are the “lost” tribes of Israel, and are
substituted, in Anglo-Israel interpretation and exegesis, for the Israel of the Bible.
(1) When the British Empire was in its heyday, Anglo-Israelites were in their glory,
maintaining that the British were obviously being blessed by God because they were His
children.
(2) But in light of recent history and the loss of nearly all of Britain’s colonies, Anglo-
Israelites are content to transfer the blessings of the covenant to the United States,
maintaining that Ephraim is Great Britain and Manasseh is the United States. The fact that
Ephraim is called “the exalted one” in scripture and that Manasseh is designated as the
inferior of the two creates both historical and exegetical problems for the Anglo-Israelites.
2. Anglo-Israelism maintains that Judah represents the Jews who are still under divine
curse and are not to be identified with Israel at all. This distinction is vital to the Anglo-
Israelite interpretation of prophecy.
3. Anglo-Israelites maintain that the Israelites left landmarks as they migrated across
Europe to Britain. Thus, the Danube River and Danzig are clear indications of the tribe of
Dan. Saxon. they claim, is derived from shortening the English translation of the Hebrew for
“Isaacson” or “Son of Isaac.”
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B. The Biblical Answer to Anglo-Israelism.
1. Whereas there are many areas in which this false doctrine can be defeated, the one
doctrine where the theory stands or falls is, “Were any of the Jewish tribes lost and reappeared
as the British and American Nations?” Because of a lack of space, we shall here give attention
to this point only.
2. Regarding the “lost ten tribe” theory
(1) The final overthrow of the northern kingdom took place in 72] BC. When we read
that the “. . . king of Assyria took Samaria and carried Israel away into Assyria,” we are not
to understand that he cleared the whole land of the people, but that he took the strength of
the nation away. This point is important.
(2) Judah and Israel were to “. . . become one . . .” according to Ezekiel 37:15-17.
(3) The symbol is in Ezek 37:15-17 and the divine interpretation is in verses 19-25.
(4) In 458 B.C. Ezra and a large caravan returned to their homeland. Ezra went up
from Babylon and there went with him “… of the children of Israel…” (Ezra 7:6, 7, 13).
(5) The remnant grew and by the time of our Lord “the Jews” in Palestine made up a
large nation, numbering into the millions.
(6) The settlements of the “Jews” multiplied in Asia Minor, Cyprus, Crete, in
Macedonia and other parts of southern Europe, in Egypt and the whole north coast of Africa,
while others made their way east as far as India and China. Thus, by the time of Christ, the
settlements of the Diaspora, north, south, east and west were made up of those who had never
returned to Palestine since the time of the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, and were not
only descendants of Judah but of all twelve tribes of Israel which were “scattered abroad”
(James 1:1).
(7) Perhaps, above all, remember that the “lost ten tribes” doctrines is theory and
assumption nothing more. There is not one shred of evidence to support it.
3. The student of Anglo-Israelism should always keep in mind that the Anglo-Israelite
assumes a majority of his doctrine and wrest the scriptures for the rest. Do not allow him to
assume one particle of doctrine ask for the evidence; and do not allow him to twist God’s
word to suit his own fanciful doctrine.
II. DISPENSATIONALISM
A. Introductory Remarks Including Historical Background.

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1. Definition of terms.
(1) Dispensationalism is “a religious order or system, conceived as divinely instituted,

or as a stage of progressive revelation, expressly adapted to the needs of a particular nation
or period of time as the patriarchal, Mosaic (or Jewish) dispensation, the Christian
dispensation; also, the age or period during which such system has prevailed.
(2) To the dispensationalist, the word means chiefly a period or periods of time.
(3) There are three main theories concerning the millennium of Rev. 20
premillennialism, amillennialism and postmillennialism. However, there are three separate
schools within premillennialism historic premillennialism, futurism, and dispensationalism.
2. Historical background.
(1) In 1687 Pierre Poiret in Amsterdam published a six-volume work entitled L

’Economie Divine which presented a dispensational format to his section on eschatology. In
it he viewed seven dispensations with the seventh being the millennium.
(2) Poiret’s works seems to have been the basis for the work done by the theologian,
Isaac Watts. He, too, had s‘nr dispensations followed by the millennium.
(3) In the early 1800’s, John Darby (1800-1882) the recognized “father of
dispensationalism” launched a separatist movement known as the Plymouth Brethren which
came out of the Anglican Church.7 Darby’s system likewise saw seven dispensations.
(4) From Darby the “mantel” fell on Dr. Cyrus Ingerson Scofield (1843-1921).
Scofield took Darby’s theory, put it into Watts’ outline and called it scripture. His reference
Bible, sometimes called “The Handbook of Premillennialism,” has become a mainstay in the
homes of every dispensational-premillennial group in the world, and has done more to spread
dispensationalism than all the writings and sermons by the adherents of this heresy combined.
The following is a summary of Scofield’s seven, dispensationalist views:
A. Man Innocent, the Creation to the Fall.

B. Man Under Conscience, the Fall to the Flood.
C. Man in Authority Over the Earth, the Flood to Abraham.
D. Man Under Promise, Abraham to Mt. Sinai.
E. Man Under Law, Mt. Sinai to the Cross.
F. Man Under Grace, the Cross to the Second Coming.
G. Man Under the Personal Reign of Christ, the Millennium.
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B. The Basic Dispensationalist’s Doctrinal Teachings.
1. Scofield sets forth two advents as yet future:
(1) The “Rapture” of the Saints before the “Great Tribulation.”

(2) The Second Coming of Christ to establish His millennial reign after the seven-
year “Great Tribulation.”
2. Scofield sets forth two future resurrections 1000 years apart.
(1) The just shall be raised before the millennium.

(2) The unjust shall be raised after the millennium.10 (Note: This can be answered by
John 5:28-29, WSC).
3. Scofield sets forth the occurrence of five judgments.
(1) The Judgment as to Believers Time: AD. 30. Place: the cross. Result: death for
Christ and justification for the believer.
(2) The Judgment of Sin in the Believer Time: any time. Place: anywhere. Result:
chastisement by the Lord, if we judge not ourselves. (This is the doctrine of “eternal security”
which holds that God will not let a “saint” fall from grace, but will instead “beat” him back
into grace.)
(3) The Judgment of the Conduct, or works, of the Believer Time: when Christ comes.
Place: in the air. Result: to the believer reward or loss but he himself shall be saved. (This is
to take place at the “Rapture”.)
(4) The Judgment of the Nations Time: the glorious appearing of Christ. Place: the
valley of Jehoshaphat. Result. Some saved, some lost.
(5) The Judgment of the Wicked Dead Time: a determined day, after the millennium.
Place: before the great white throne. Result: Rev. 20:15.
4. Other dispensational “scholars” which have added to the dispensationalist doctrine

have been Dr. James M. Gray, the former President of Moody Bible Institute, George Wilson,
who set the advent date at 1966 A.D., E.W. Bullinger, the founder of the radical “ultra-
dispensationalist” dogma, Charles Welch, Adalph Knock, Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, former
president of Dallas Theological Seminary, and Dr. John F. Walvoord, the current president
of Dallas Theological Seminary. 5. The basic tenets of dispensationalism as a corporate unit
are as follows:
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(1) The Jews are to be saved by repentance; they are to be left here on earth as God’s
earthly people.
(2) The Gentiles are to be saved by faith; they will be taken to heaven after the
Rapture.
(3) The Church is a parenthesis in God’s plan and will end in apostasy.
(4) The kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God are sharply differentiated, the
first being the Davidic kingdom and the latter being God’s universal world-wide kingdom.
(5) God deals with men according to seven dispensations
(6) God’s promises to Israel were unconditional, and therefore are still binding.
(7) God’s promises to Israel concerning the return to the land, the rebuilding of the
temple, etc., were never fulfilled and are still future.
(8) Christ came the first time to establish an earthly millennial kingdom with Israel.
(9) Israel rejected Christ and it was at that time that God postponed this plan until the
second advent.
(10) Christ instituted a Gentile Church.
(11) God has two people. Israel is God’s earthly people; the Church is God’s heavenly
people.
(12) Israel’s destiny is to remain on earth forever; the destiny of the Church is to spend
eternity in heaven. (Numbers 11 and 12 are a restatement of numbers 1 and 2 above, WSC).
6. The real issue of dispensationalism is well stated by Dr. George E. Ladd in the
October 12, 1959 issue of Christianity Today: “We must first clarify the nature of
dispensational theology. The heart of the system is not seven dispensations nor a
pretribulation rapture of the Church.
It is the notion that God has two people, Israel and the Church, and two programs a
theocratic program for Israel and a redemptive program for the Church. Israel is a national
people with material blessings and an earthly destiny; the Church is a universal people with
spiritual blessings and a heavenly destiny.”
(Note: It is at this point that Armstrongism and Anglo-lsraelism or British lsraelism

crosses paths with dispensationalism, WSC).
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7. The four gospels of dispensationalism.
(1) “The gospel of the kingdom. This is the preaching of the good news that God had
promised to set up an earthly kingdom. This kingdom was to be political, spiritual, Israelitish,
universal; and was to be ruled over by Jesus as the greater Son of David. It was to last one
thousand years.
(2) The gospel of the grace of God. This is the good news that Jesus died, was buried
and the he rose again. Scofield says that one of the main characteristics of this gospel is that
it saves ‘wholly apart from forms and ordinances,’ the plain implication being that this is not
true of some of the other three gospels.
(3) The everlasting gospel. This is to be preached by Jews after the church is raptured,
but before the beginning of the millennium. Scofield says of this gospel that it is neither the
gospel of the kingdom, nor of grace. It is the good news that those who were saved during
the ‘great tribulation’ will enter the millennial reign.
(4) That which Paul calls ‘my gospel’. This is the gospel of grace, but has a fuller
development than that preached by Christ and the apostles! Paul has been given new insight
into the ‘mystery’ of the church and this is included in ‘Paul’s gospel’.”
8. With regard to the above four gospels, the dispensationalist teaches:
(1) John the Baptist and Christ preached the first gospel until the kingdom was
rejected by the Jews and had to be postponed while the church age was substituted and
brought in by the death of Christ.
(2) When Jesus realized his plan to establish the kingdom was being rejected, he
changed to the second gospel and began to preach that he would be crucified, buried and
resurrected. This gospel was preached by Christ the remainder of his ministry and then by
the apostles until the time of Paul.
(3) Paul began to preach gospel number four, “My gospel,” which was an
improvement over gospel number two or the Lord’s gospel. This is the gospel of the faith
only doctrine. (The purpose of this gospel is to get around the necessity of water baptism for
the remission of sins, WSC).
(4) Gospel number three will not be preached until after the present “church age” is
ended and the church has been taken out of the world. Then after the “everlasting gospel”
has been preached and the millennium established. Jewish converts will begin to preach the
“gospel of the kingdom,” again.
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9. Dispensational beliefs on the church.
(1) Dispensationalist believe the Christian Church came into being as a result of the
alleged earthly kingdom.
(2) They teach that the church was the “mystery” that is recorded in Eph. 1:10 which
was kept hid in the mind of God until He was ready to establish it, and that it was not actually
esbablished until Paul began to preach his gospel of faith only.
C. Refuting the Doctrines of the Dispensationalist.
1. The space which has been allotted for this material in no way allows for the
refutation of the dispensational doctrines listed above, much less the refutation of all of the
doctrines of dispensationalism. However, we will make a few brief statements which should
lead to further study and the ability to refute the heretical doctrines of dispensationalism.
2. Refutation of the “two kingdoms” theory. The dispensationalist believes that the
kingdom of God is the church and the kingdom of heaven is the millennial kingdom. The two
terms are synonymous, and this must be proved.
(1) Matt. 16:18. Jesus promised to build his church. In verse 19 He calls it the
kingdom of heaven.
(2) Matt. 11:12, 13. It is called the kingdom of heaven. In Lk. 16: 16 it is called the
kingdom of God.
(3) Matt. 3:1-3. It is called the kingdom of heaven and it was at hand. Jesus called it
the kingdom of God in Mark 1:15 as it was at hand. There is no room for thousands of years
between the two.
(4) Matt. 10:7. The apostles were to preach “. . . the kingdom of heaven was at hand.”
In Mark’s account, Mk. 9:2, they were to preach that “. . . the kingdom of God was at hand.”
One was just as close to realization as the other. If not, why not?
(5) In Matt. 19:23, 24 there is an example of Hebrew parallelism in which our Lord
says the same thing twice, for effect. The in~ resting thing is that our Lord himself, without
changing subjects, refers to the same kingdom in two different terms.
“Then said Jesus unto his disciples, Verily I say unto you, that a rich man shall hardly
enter into the kingdom of heaven. And again, I say unto you, It is easier for a camel
to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of
God.” (Matt. 19:23-24).
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3. One should here take the effort to prove that Christ did establish the kingdom and
that He is now reigning over it. Perhaps some scripture references would be of help, for space
will only allow such with no comment. One should compare:
(1) Zech. 6:12. 13; Jer. 6:14-16 with Lk. 1:31-33; Acts 2:30-34; Rev. 19:16; Heb.
10:21.
(2) Zech 6:16 with Acts 2:34, 35;] Cor. 15:25.
(3) Dan. 7:13, 14 with Acts 1:9-11; Heb. 12:2.
(4) Lk. 22:29, 30 with Heb. 12:28.
(5) Joel 2:28; Mk. 9:1 with Acts 2: 1-3; 1:8.
(6) Dan. 2:44 with Matt. 16:18, 19; Acts 2.
(7) Isa. 2:1-4 with Matt. 16:18, l9; Acts 1:8; 2:47.
4. In refutation of the dispensational doctrines one should give a careful study to the
meaning of the words “everlasting” and “all”. Perhaps a good beginning point would be the
book Biblical Studies in Final Things, by W.E. Cox, pages 97-101. Special attention should
be given to Rom. 1 1:26, for this passage is one of the dispensational “sugar-sticks.”
5. One must be able to answer the dispensationalist’s arguments regarding God

having two separate people.
(1) A good place to begin would be John 10:16 and Eph. 2:14-16. (More will be said
about Ephesians).
(2) Further study should take one to:
A. The promises to Abraham and their fulfillment.

B. The conditional promises made to Israel.
C. The fulfilled prophecy concerning Israel.
D. A study of the prophets and their prophecies in chronological order. The message
and the dates of the prophets is most important. The pointed question should be,
“Which prophet, after 520 B.C., spoke of Israel returning to her homeland?”
E. The distinction between National Israel and Spiritual Israel. A thorough study of
“Israel” in the wwNew Testament will clearly refute the assumed theory of the
dispensationalist. One should especially note the usage of “Israel” in Romans.
6. One must spend much time in answering the dispensational beliefs on the church.
They teach the church was the “mystery” of Eph 1:10, and that it was not actually established
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until Paul began to preach his gospel of faith only. There are two differing schools of thought
as to when this was. Some contend for the time of Acts 15 and others contend for the time of
Acts 28:28. One might think of dispensationalism versus Paul’s letters to the Ephesians.
Following is a brief refutation of the above erroneous doctrine:
(1) DISPENSATIONALIST TEACHING: The church is an parenthesis, i.e., a

temporary entity lying between God’s two dealings with national Israel. ANSWER: Paul
teaches in Eph. 1:22, 23 that the church is the body of Christ, and is therefore the fulness of
God. Cf. Eph. 3:8-13.
(2) DISPENSATIONALIST TEACHING: The church is not even mentioned in the

Old Testament. ANSWER: The church is mentioned as early as Gen. 2:24. Paul quotes this
passage and says that it was spoken concerning Christ and the church. Eph. 5:31, 32.
(3) DISPENSATIONALISTS TEACH: Israel and the church are separate bodies and
are to remain so. (Here one should recall his work relative to national and spiritual Israel).
ANSWER: God took two “men" (Israel’s believing remnant and Christian Gentiles) and
made the two of them into one “man”. Therefore, there are no longer two bodies, but one.
Eph. 2:14-16.
(4) DISPENSATIONALISTS TEACHINGS: National Israel will carry out God’s

main purpose during a future millennial period.
ANSWER: The church is God’s main instrument for carrying out His plans. This the
plan that the church would be the fullness of God (Eph. 1:23) was according to the eternal
purpose of God, and has been realized in Christ Jesus. Eph. 3:10, 17.
CONCLUSION
We have only touched the “hem of the garment” of Anglo-Israelism and

Dispensationalism. The dispensationalists dismiss as false all historical interpretations.
Their major interest in prophetic teachings has to do with national Israel; most of which they
hold to be yet future. They believe that the old legal system of Israel will be established in
the kingdom of heaven in the millennium which will come after the second coming of Christ.
They believe that salvation is by faith only and that water baptism for the remission of sins
was only for the Jew until “Paul’s gospel.” From that point on both Jew and Gentile are saved
by faith. They reject Christ as now ruling king. May we studiously apply ourselves to
refuting this heresy.
“Premillennialism True or False?” William S, Cline: Anglo-Israelism and Dispensationalism.
Pages 241-249.
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ARMSTRONG'S DOCTRINE OF ANGLO ISRAELISM
(J. T. Smith)
I recently acquired the book The United States and Britain in Prophecy by Herbert
W. Armstrong. In this book, Mr. Armstrong takes the position that there is a distinction in
the "House of Israel" or "Children of Israel" and the Jews. In fact, Mr. Armstrong entitles
chapter three of the book "National Greatness Promised Israel - Yet the Jews Never Received
It - Why?" He takes the following position regarding those today who comprise Israel. "Yet
we must face the astounding fact that our white, English-speaking people - not the Jews -
have inherited national and physical phases of those promises" (Ibid, p. 12). The promises of
which he speaks are those promised to Abraham by God. Thus, the doctrine is that the Anglo-
Saxon people are the ten tribes of Israel which lost their identity when they were taken into
Assyrian captivity. Thus, the Anglo-Saxon people (Mr. Armstrong's Israel) are the ones to
take part in the Millennium, not the Sews.
One interesting thing that I discovered while doing research for this article, was the
fact that this doctrine did not originate with Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong. In fact, an article in
an old Bible Banner edited by Foy E. Wallace, Jr. produced some interesting facts. The article
by Yater Tant on this very subject sets forth the fact that "Richard Brothers (1757-1824), à
half-pay officer of eccentric habits in the British navy,' has given to the world one of the most
amazing religio-political theories to be found in all history. It was this odd character who was
the first in modern times, to advocate the singular theory that the British nation is in actual
fact the true and real Israel of God. He claimed that the Anglo-Saxon race was descended
from the “ten lost tribes” of Israel; that he, himself, was a lineal descendant of David, and the
rightful claimant to David's throne; that very shortly God would overthrow all the enemies
of Israel (England), and that he, Richard Brothers, would become the ruler of the whole
world."
"Quite understandably, the Britishers confined this man to a lunatic asylum, but, even
so, he secured and retained many admirers. Outstanding among them was C. Piazzi Smyth."
Mr. Smyth said that while Brothers was absolutely right about the Anglo-Saxons being the
true Israel, he (Brothers) had mis-calculated the matter. It was the Queen of England, not
Brothers, who was rightful heir to the throne of David.
Hastings Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics lists a number of the proof-texts used
by Brothers and also by Armstrong, who hold to Anglo-Israelism. It reminds me of the
Jehovah's Witnesses in the childish way that take passages and make some point in the
passage fit their theory. Here are some of them:
"Jeremiah 3:12. God's word should be proclaimed in the north. (Britain is to the north
of Palestine).
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"Isaiah 49:10. Heat or sun should not smite them. (Britain is foggy and cloudy most
of the year. The sun rarely ever shines upon the people there.)
"Isaiah 24:15. God's name should be glorified in the isles. (Britain is an island
kingdom.)
"Micah 5:8. The remnant of Jacob shall be as a lion among the nations. (Britain is
traditionally the `lion,' even using the symbol of a lion in her coat of arms.)
"Isaiah 49:19-20, 54:3. Colonies should be established. (Britain is the world's greatest
colonial empire.)
"Genesis 48:19. One of Joseph's sons, Manasseh, was to become a separate nation.
(Who can deny that this refers to the United States?)"
Many of these same passages are used by Armstrong with the same childish kind of
comparisons made by him. Also, the same kind of arbitrary meaning is given to many of the
passages discussed by Mr. Armstrong. However, as I have already pointed out, the greater
part of the material in Mr. Armstrong's book is given to show that Israel is never referred to
as the Jews, and that the Jews did not include Israel. In fact, Mr. Armstrong said on page 68
of his book, "the terms `house of Israel' or àll Israel,' when the meaning is national, or the
terms `Jacob,' or `Rachel,' or 'Ephraim,' or `house of Joseph,' or 'Samaria,' often used in the
Bible in prophecy, relate to the ten-tribed birthright people, not to the Jews. This is a key and
a master key, to Bible understanding!"
It is claimed by Mr. Armstrong that Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph
who were blessed by Jacob, would be the heads of the tribe of Israel. Mr. Armstrong makes
a special point to talk about Jacob "crossing his hands" in giving the blessing to Ephraim and
Manasseh and what that means in prophecy. He believes that Ephraim represents the British
Isles, and that Manasseh represents the United States. But, Mr. Armstrong has "his wires
crossed." For, according to the Scriptures, Ephraim, which received the right-hand blessing
of Jacob, should be greater than Manasseh, who received the left-hand blessing. This would
mean that Great Britain is a greater nation that the United States which is supposedly
represented by the boy who received the lesser blessing, Manasseh. So, Mr. Armstrong's
calculations will not work.
The Ten Lost Tribes
Mr. Armstrong insists that the ten tribes are the real Israel, not the Jews which
consisted of Judah and Benjamin. He also affirms that we, the Anglo-Saxons of today, are
descendants of the ten tribes and, therefore, are the true Israel.
603
In reading Mr. Armstrong's book, I found that the majority of his problems come as
a result of his endeavoring to "squeeze" the millennial theory into every passage that
discusses Israel's return after their captivity by the Assyrians.
In an effort to show the ridiculousness of Mr. Armstrong's reasoning, I want to note

his teaching on the millennium. Not long ago, I was returning home from a trip and listening
to Mr. Armstrong on the car radio. He was discussing Daniel chapter two, describing Daniel's
interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream. He was doing an excellent job of describing the
interpretation of the dream. He showed how the Babylonian empire was represented by the
head of gold, the Medo-Persian empire was represented by the breast and arms of silver, the
Grecian empire was represented by the belly and thighs of brass, and then "bingo," he jumped
from the Grecian kingdom all the way to time in which we live as a time when God would
set up His kingdom which would never be destroyed. Why not just continue to show the next
kingdom in the historical line was the Roman kingdom when God would establish His
kingdom? That is the mystery indeed. But after taking the above position, you can see the
problem that anyone would have in trying to explain the return of Israel. But let's note some
Bible facts.
Fact 1. When Jeremiah was prophesying of the Babylonian captivity, he included

Israel in his prophecy. We read in Jeremiah 23:7-8, "Therefore, behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that they shall say, The Lord liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of
the land of Egypt; But, The Lord liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house
of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I have driven them; and they
shall dwell in their own land."
Fact 2. The book of Ezekiel was written by Ezekiel to try to comfort his companions
during the time of their tribulation in Babylonian captivity. The book may be divided into
three main divisions. The first division (chapters 1-24) contains predictions of the conquest
of the Jews. The second division (chapters 25-32) was delivered during the invasion of
Jerusalem. The final division (chapters 33-48) foretells the return of all God's people from
Babylonian captivity. Israel is mentioned in every division of Ezekiel's prophecy.
In the first division (Ezek. 3:1), Ezekiel was told, ". . . go speak to the house of Israel."
In the second division, God told Ezekiel, "Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the
house of Israel . . ." (Ezek. 33:10). And in the third division, Ezekiel is carried out in the spirit
of the Lord and set in a valley of dry bones.
Ezekiel was shown by the Lord that these bones would take on flesh and they would
be given breath and they would become a great army (Ezek. 37). What was meant by that
which Ezekiel saw? God explains it in Ezekiel 37:11-14. "Then he said unto me, Son of man,
these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, our bones are dried, and our hope
is lost: we are cut off for our parts. Therefore, prophesy and say unto them, thus said the Lord
God; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your
604
graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the Lord when I
have opened up your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And I
shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land, then shall
ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord." Not only that, but
in the next verses (15-22) God shows that Judah and Israel would be united in the return.
(See also Jer. 23:7-8).
Not only did God say that both would be brought back from the Babylonian captivity,
but that all the kingdoms of the earth would be turned over to Cyrus king of Persia and those
among all of God's people who desired could return to Jerusalem (2 Chron. 36:22-23). This
would include both Judah and Israel and God declared that He would be their king (Hosea
13:9-11).
Fact 3. When we come to the New Testament, we find that the word "Jew" was
applied to "Israel," and those of Israel were referred to as Jews.
When the birth of Jesus was made known, what is said? "Where is he that is born king
of the Jews?" (Matt. 2:2). But in verse 6, I read, "And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
art not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall
rule my people Israel." You will note that in one verse Christ is said to be king of the Jews,
and in the other He is said to be the ruler of Israel. He was also referred to as King of Israel
(John 1:49).
When Christ sent forth His disciples on the "limited" commission, you will observe
that He sent them "to the lost sheep of the house of Israel" (Matt. 10:6). So it was not that
they were "lost" in the sense of not being able to find them, but in the sense that they were
lost spiritually. Otherwise, how would they be able to find them to preach to them?
In Acts 2:5 we read that "there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of
every nation under heaven." However, in verse 22, Peter referred to them as "Ye men of
Israel," and in verse 36, he referred to them as "all the house of Israel." Hence, these "Jews"
were referred to as "the house of Israel."
When Paul went into the synagogue in Antioch in Pisidia, he was given the
opportunity to speak. He addressed those who were there as "Men of Israel" (Acts 13:16).
However, verse 42 tells us that at the close of his lesson "the Jews were gone out of the
synagogue…" Also, Paul said in Galatians 2:15 that he was "a Jew by nature." But he also
said that he was "of the stock of Israel," and yet in the next breath said he was "of the tribe
of Benjamin" (Phil. 3:5). You will recall that the tribe of Benjamin was included with Judah
in the two tribes that, according to Mr. Armstrong, were not at all Israel.
605
Conclusion
Many other instances could be cited to show that the New Testament identifies a Jew
as an Israelite and an Israelite as a Jew, but surely the above passages are sufficient.
The reason Mr. Armstrong missed the truth on this subject is because of his many false
premises upon which he bases his theory.
1. He, like Mr. Brothers of long ago, puts his own connotation on the verses that he
needs to prove his theory.
2. He misses the teachings of the Scripture on the fact that both Judah and Israel were
included in those who were in Babylonian captivity.
3. He will not allow for the return of Israel after the Babylonian captivity, as many of
the Old Testament prophets prophesied, but desires to make their return at some
future time in harmony with his millennial theory.
4. He must deny plain passages in the New Testament that show that the Jews were
Israelites, and that the Israelites were called Jews. So, my friends, neither Britain nor
the United States may be found in prophecy, Mr. Armstrong to the contrary
notwithstanding.
Guardian of Truth XXVII: 11, pp. 338-340

June 2, 1983.
Source: http://www.truthmagazine.com/archives/volume27/GOT027158.html
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ARMSTRONGISM
(Alan E. Highers)
In a lectureship dealing with challenges facing the church it is significant, and I think
perceptive, that a special period is set aside for the discussion of that religious system founded
and popularized by Herbert W. Armstrong. This chameleonic organization may be known as
Armstrongism after its founder or his son, Garner Ted Armstrong, or it may be known as the
Worldwide Church of God, or by its earlier title, the Radio Church of God, or through its
literature, such as the Plain Truth magazine, or by its radio and television programs known
as the World Tomorrow, or by its educational unit which is called Ambassador College.
Regardless of how it is known, this movement has experienced remarkable growth since its
beginning in 1934.
The Plain Truth is an attractively printed magazine that is sent without charge to more
than two million subscribers, which means it may be read by as many as six million persons.
Armstrong's program is on both television and radio (more than 250 radio stations) and he
receives about two million letters per year. His yearly income for this work is estimated at
over $55,000,000. Many religious people, and even some members of the church, have been
impressed by the Armstrong emphasis and approach~ Most of the radio and television
speaking is done by Armstrong's son, Garner Ted, an articulate spokesman who sounds
remarkably like his father and who frequently intersperses his broadcasts with such phrases
as "you can read it in YOUR Bible." The Armstrong’s preach strongly against evolution and
seem to have a strong Biblical appeal, but in fact their doctrine is notoriously unscriptural
and anti-scriptural.
BIOGRAPHICAL BACKGROUND
Herbert W. Armstrong was born on July 31, 1892, in Des Moines, Iowa. His early
work experiences were in the field of advertising, copy-writing and salesmanship. He frankly
says that he learned a writing style in these days by which he believes God was preparing
him for the work to follow-and anyone who has ever read, or heard, Armstrong for very long
can immediately recognize his handiwork by the style, emphasis, capital letters, and
exclamation points! Armstrong was brought up in a Quaker family, but he acknowledges that
he was not devoutly religious. In 1917, he married and thereafter attended the Methodist
Church with his wife.
About 1926 Mrs. Armstrong became acquainted with a Mrs. Ora Runcorn at Salem,
Oregon, who convinced her that the seventh day sabbath is binding upon Christians. She
conveyed this conviction to Armstrong who claims that he engaged in a six months intensive
study of the question and became convinced himself. He was baptized in 1927 and affiliated
with a small seventh-day Church of God denomination which had headquarters at Stanberry,
Missouri. This church was a splinter group which had broken off from the Seventh-day
Adventist Church about 1866. One of the leaders in this movement in Armstrong's day was
A. N. Dugger-the same man with whom W. Curtis Porter engaged in a written debate on the
607
sabbath question which was published as the Portr-Dugger Debate. This discussion, in which
Brother Porter did a masterful job, is invaluable in the study of Armstrongism because
Armstrong obviously learned much of his sabbath doctrine from Dugger (the Dugger-
Armstrong position differs from Adventism in claiming the Wednesday crucifixion, the
Saturday resurrection, as well as other differences.) In 1933, the Church of God had a division
wherein Mr. Dugger took a leading part, which resulted in the formation of a separate group
known as the Church of God (Seventh Day) with headquarters at Salem, West Virginia.
Armstrong seceded with the Dugger party. Because of differences over Armstrong's British-
Israelism as well as other factors, he separated from the Church of God and launched out into
his own work.
Armstrong began his broadcasting career on station K.O.R.E. in Eugene, Oregon, in
January 1934. In February, he published the first issue of the Plain Truth It is his claim that
some 90% of all of the prophecies in the Bible began to be fulfilled in 1934 with the
commencement of his work (Plain Truth, January 1959.) He also believes that his work is
the fulfillment of Matthew 24:14 and Mark 13:10 (Autobiography, p. 503.) Armstrong's
blatant egotism and pretentious boasting may further be seen in the following claims: (1)
Jesus began his teaching and training of his disciples for their world-wide mission in 27 A.D.
Exactly one hundred time cycles later, in 1927 A.D., God began the intensive training of
Herbert W. Armstrong to carry that same gospel. (2) Jesus began his earthly ministry. at age
30, and God inducted Herbert W. Armstrong into his ministry at precisely age 30. (3) The
apostles were endued with power on the day of Pentecost in 31 A.D., and Herbert W.
Armstrong was ordained to preach on or near the day of Pentecost in 1931 A.D., just one
hundred time cycles later. A time cycle, according to Armstrong, is nineteen years. (4) The
apostles began preaching in 31 A.D., says Armstrong, and for one time cycle (nineteen years)
their preaching was confined to one continent, but in 50 A.D. Paul carried the gospel into
Europe. Likewise, Armstrong began to preach on radio in January 1934 and one time cycle
later (nineteen years), in January 1953, he began broadcasting to Europe. (5) From the time
Paul carried the gospel to Europe in 50 A.D. it was another time cycle to 69 A.D. when the
disciples fled Jerusalem prior to its destruction in 70 A.D. So, Armstrong began broadcasting
to Europe in January of 1953, therefore he opines that in one more time cycle (he wrote this
prediction in 1959) the termination of opportunity to preach the gospel would likely come.
That would have been in 1972 which has now come and gone. So much for his time cycles,
his arrogant comparisons, and his reputation as a prophet!
ARMSTRONG'S VIEW OF PROPHECY
There are so many erroneous teachings in the Armstrong system that time would fail
to enumerate and discuss them all. It is essential, however, to be aware of Armstrong's
doctrine in two major areas: first, his sabbatarianism, as previously mentioned, and second,
his British-Israelism. In 1967 Armstrong published a book entitled The United States and
British Commonwealth in Prophecy- his major doctrinal work. From hearing the Armstrongs
on the air it would be difficult to comprehend their fundamental doctrines; the broadcasts are
often filled with discussion of pollution, the environmental crisis, child-rearing, and other
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such generic or non-doctrinal subjects. It is only through reading the literature which is
offered bit by bit and piece by piece that one learns the actual views of the speakers. The
Armstrong philosophy is to lead the interested inquirer slowly, step-by-step into the morass
of doctrinal error, and no proffered piece of propaganda is more important than the
aforementioned book.
(1) The Test of a True Prophet.
There have always been false prophets (I In. 4:1; II Pet. 2:1) and the people of God
have been admonished to test the prophets to see whether they are of God. Jeremiah 23 is a
scathing rebuke of false prophets and we would do well to take heed to verse 32, "Behold, I
am against them that prophesy lying dreams, saith Jehovah, and do tell them, and cause my
people to err by their lies, and by their vain boasting: yet I sent them not, nor commanded
them; neither do they profit this people at all, saith Jehovah." But, how is one to know the
false prophet? Here is a God-given test: "When a prophet speaketh in the name of Jehovah,
if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which Jehovah hath not spoken: the
prophet hath spoken it presumptuously, thou shalt not be afraid of him." (Deut. 18:22.) That
Herbert W. Armstrong is a presumptuous prophet is already manifest. We have seen that his
so-called nineteen-year time cycles were to have culminated in January of 1972, but it
"followed not, nor came to pass." There is further evidence of his presumptuousness. When
Armstrong published the first edition of his book in 1967, he predicted the fulfillment of
many events within five years or by 1972. In 1972, however, at the time when many of his
predictions should have been coming to pass, he put out a second, revised edition of his book-
still making the same predictions, but changing the time schedule! This demonstrates not
only that Armstrong is a false prophet, but that he knows it. The scriptures did not change in
1972-whatever they said with reference to the time of prophetic fulfillment in 1967, they still
said in 1972. To document Armstrong's duplicity, take note of the following examples:
(a) On the opening page of the 1967 volume Armstrong said "events of the next five
years," but in the 1972 edition he said "events of the next several years." Why?
Because the five years had expired and the "events" still had not occurred!
(b) On page 9 in 1967 he said a staggering change in world events would take place
"in the next four to seven years," but in 1972 he changed the prediction to read "in the
next several years."
(2) Source of Armstrong's Prophetic Teaching.
The British-Israel theory is ascribed to Richard Brothers (1757- 1824), a British naval
officer, but it has had various defenders through the years. The most significant, so far as
Armstrong is concerned, is J. H. Allen whose book, Judah's Sceptre and Joseph's Birthright,
was first published in 1902, some sixty-five years prior to Armstrong's book on the United
States and the British Commonwealth in prophecy-this fact will be significant in the
examination of Armstrong's claims. It should be noted that Armstrong's material was first
published in booklet form in 1954 (25 pages), then asa book in 1967 (212 pages), and finally
in a revision in 1972 (230 pages.)
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It will be interesting to see what Armstrong claims for himself and his theory as set
forth in The United States and British Common wealth in Prophecy (1967 edition.) The first
chapter of that book bears this engaging title: "The Lost Master Key Has Been Found." Now,
that title suggests several things to the inquiring mind: first, that there is a "master key" to
something; second, that it had been lost; and third, that it has now been found. Let us examine
these ideas one by one in the light of Armstrong's teaching. First, what is meant by the master
key? On page 3 Armstrong informs us that it is the "vital key necessary to unlock closed
doors of Biblical prophecy ... " Observe that the doors of Biblical prophecy have been closed,
that is, shut to the understanding of men, but the key which is "necessary" to unlock and
understand these prophecies has now been found. Armstrong further says on page 5 that
Biblical prophecies can be understood "only by those who possess the Master KEY to unlock
them!" A very important key, we must say. That key, we are told, is the identity of the United
States and the British nations in prophecy.
Second, how had the key been lost? Armstrong answers on page 6 by informing us
that these ancient prophecies were never given to Israel, that they pertain to present world
conditions, and that they could not be understood until today. How could Israel have been
expected to know, for example, that Ephraim actually refers to the British Isles and Manasseh
meant the United States? Third, when and how was this important key found? Armstrong
advises the reader that he has written "by God's direction and authority," and that these vital
Biblical prophecies were closed up and sealed "till this latter half of the Twentieth Century."
(See pages 212, 6.)
Keep in mind that Armstrong claims the "master key" was given to him by God, that
no man could understand the prophecies of the Bible without this all-important key (which
identifies the United States and British nations in prophecy), that it was lost, closed, sealed
up in the past, and that it has only been revealed in the latter half of this century. All of this
is very interesting, except for the fact that there were other British-Israel theorists who had
the very same "key" long before the latter half of the twentieth century, including Richard
Brothers who managed to get the key before Armstrong was born. Is it possible that the secret
slipped out before the latter half of this century and before God allegedly passed it on to
Armstrong?
Further,J. H. Allen possessed the same key as early as 1902, and a comparison of
Allen's book with Armstrong's material raises the suspicion that Armstrong received his key
from Allen rather than from God. One example will suffice. On pages 259-60 of his book J.
H. Allen refers to these four passages, and in this order: Genesis 49:17, Joshua 19:46, Judges
18:11-12, and Judges 18:29. On pages 116-17 of Armstrong's book he refers to exactly the
same passages and in the same order.
Other examples could be cited, but the point is this-no one faults Armstrong for
reading or researching the writings of others, but his claim to finding the lost master key of
understanding prophecy, by the authority and direction of God, becomes preposterous in light
of his obvious reliance upon J. H. Allen and others.
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(3) The Essence of the Theory.
The essential elements of Armstrong's theory are almost too farfetched for words, but
they are set out here because many have listened to Armstrong without ever grasping the
fundamental tenets of his system. All page references, where given, are from the 1967 edition
of The United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy.
1. The promise to Abraham had two phases, race and grace-HI will make of thee a
great nation" (race) and Hin thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed"
(grace.)
2. Race, the birthright, was never given to the Jews, but rather to the descendants of
Joseph. Grace, the sceptre, came through Judah (the Jews.) Armstrong says the
term Jew never applies to the House of Israel (page 80.) But compare Acts
2:5,22,36.
3. When the kingdom of Israel divided, the sceptre went with Judah, but the
birthright (promises of national greatness) went with Ephraim and Manasseh.
4. The throne of David must last forever, that is, perpetually in every generation, and
Jesus will occupy that throne at his second coming. Since Zedekiah was the last
king of Judah, the location of David's throne was changed and kept secret until
the end times.
5. What happened to David's throne? Armstrong points out that Judah had twin sons,
Pharez and Zarah, and that there was a breach between them. He asserts that this
breach was to be healed at some future time by their descendants. He says those
who occupied the throne-David, Zedekiah, even Christ-were all of the Pharez line,
but the breach could be healed by having a descendant of Zarah ascend to the
throne.
6. When Zedekiah was rejected, Armstrong says the throne of David was transferred
from Judah to Israel (page 109.) How was this change effected? Zedekiah's sons
had been killed, but his daughters escaped and one of them named Tea-Tephi was
transported by Jeremiah to Ireland. She was married to King Herremon of Ireland-
she of the Pharez line and he of the Zarah line, thus the breach was healed.
7. Armstrong traces his own ancestry back to King Herremon of Ireland
(Autobiography, page 26.) The throne was transplanted from Ireland to Scotland,
then from Scotland to England, where Queen Elizabeth is holding it down until
the return of Jesus! Jesus even sent his apostles to the "lost sheep of the house of
Israel," that is, they made an unrecorded trip to the British Isles and preached the
gospel (page 149.)
8. So, the United States is Manasseh and the British Commonwealth is
Ephraim'"'""1he throne of England is the throne. of David which Jesus will
occupy when he returns. The reason true Israel is not recognized today is because
she has forsaken the sabbath, her true mark of identity. In fact, Armstrong teaches
that when the kingdom of Israel divided, Jeroboam changed the sabbath from the
seventh to the first day of the week (page 165!) He has the Adventists beat; they
think it was not changed until the time of Constantine.
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A FALSE SPECULATIVE SYSTEM
It is apparent that time would fail to answer all of the assertions, assumptions, and
averments of Armstrongism, but to state it is almost to answer it because of its incredibility.
Consider the following:
1. There is not a word-in fact, not a syllable-in the scriptures which says that Jeremiah
ever went to Ireland.
2. The scriptures do not teach that the apostles went to the British Isles. Jesus said, "Ye
shall not have gone through the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come." (Matt.
10:23.)
3. There is nothing in the word of God about the throne of David being transferred from
Judah to Israel, or that a daughter of Zedekiah married a king of Ireland, or that the
breach between Pharez and Zarah must be healed by a marriage of their descendants;
and there is certainly nothing in the scriptures about Jeroboam changing the sabbath
from the seventh day to the first day of the week.
Armstrong is guilty of adding to the word of God (Deut. 4:2; Rev. 22:18-19), by
inserting his opinions and imaginative speculations. Further, this lecture touches upon only
a fragment of his erroneous, unscriptural, and unsupportable claims. In view of the fanaticism
of his system, why has he been able to deceive 75,000 or more followers who give up to one
third of their income to his cause? First, he and his son are capable, persuasive speakers
Second, he uses good psychology in his methods all of his literature is free, and the convert
is not overwhelmed with all of the system at once. He is slowly fed and led until he swallows
the hook. Third, there is a fleshly appeal in Armstrong's religion, especially in claiming
"white, English-speaking peoples" are the true Israel. Fourth, Armstrong impresses his
followers with frequent pictures and reports of his visits with world leaders and noted
dignitaries. But fifth, and most important, his followers regard him with a reverence and awe
that must be akin to their feelings for God; remember that he claims to be the fulfillment of
divine prophecy, a descendant of King Herremon who supposedly married a daughter of
Zedekiah, and one who speaks by the authority and direction of God. His followers have
argued for years that Pentecost did not fall upon the first day of the week, but when
Armstrong, under pressure, recently admitted he had been mistaken about this point, the
church doctrine changed without fanfare (see Los Angeles Times, February 24, 1974.) Who
have they been following all of this time-Armstrong or God?
The Armstrong movement, after years of monolithic rule, has recently undergone
division and dissension which, among other things, involved the charge of immoral conduct
against Garner Ted Armstrong. The principal objection to this system, however, is its utter
disregard for the teaching of God's word.
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “The Church Today: Current Issues, Problems and
Challenges” -1983, Alan E. Highers: Armstrongism. Pages 66-73.
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WILL THERE BE A CONVERSION TO CHRIST OF THE JEWISH NATION?
(Robert R. Taylor, Jr.)
It never ceases to amaze me at the colossal claims that are made relative to the almost
supernatural or miraculous conversions that are to be made among the Jews in the fulfilling
of all the millennial theories. Most of these far-fetched theories call for a national or near
national conversion of the Jews to Christ and not a one-upon-one basis. I have yet to read
where this conversion will be based just upon the power of the proclaimed gospel in all its
resplendent beauty as declared in Holy Writ.
I shall now set forth what some have taught relative to this matter and then refute it
thoroughly.
WHAT A DISPENSATIONAL PREMILLENNIALIST TEACHES
Hal Lindsey, whose books are best sellers in this fertile field of speculation, in THE
LATE GREAT PLANET EARTH, affirms a great turning of the Jews to Christ while the
saints are raptured and the Great Tribulation is in progress. He writes,
After the Christians are gone God is going to reveal Himself in a special way to
144,000 physical, literal Jews who are going to believe with a vengeance that Jesus
is the Messiah. They are going to be 144,000 Jewish Billy Grahams turned loosed on
this earth-the earth will never know a period of evangelism like this period. These
Jewish people are going to make up for lost time. They are going to have the greatest
number of converts in all history. Revelation 7:9-14 says they bring so many to Christ
that they can't be numbered (p. 100).
Yet amazingly enough within two pages of this speculative statement he writes,
"There would be no earthly advantage in being alive when the antichrist rules. We believe
that Christians will not be around to watch the debacle brought about by the cruelest dictator
of all time" (Ibid., p. 102). It would be of interest for Lindsey to tell us why he thinks there
will be no advantage in being one of these 144,000 Jewish Billy Grahams or in being among
all the innumerable converts they will amass in this amazingly short period.
WHAT AN ASTROLOGER THINKS
Perhaps the best-known name in modern day astrology is that of Jeane Dixon. She
has a book entitled MY LIFE AND PROPHECIES. She makes no efforts to stay aloof from
religious predictions. In fact, she is on written record as predicting the Lord's coming before
this century ends and yet says the sun and earth will collide in another five thousand years!
Obviously. this involves her in hopeless, hapless and helpless contradictions with
such passages as 2 Peter 3: 10ff. I f Christ comes back in this century there will be no earth
613
and sun to collide five thousand years from now for the earth and sun will be destroyed at his
second coming. If the sun and earth have to stay here for another five thousand years to have
their Jeane Dixon predicted collision, then Christ cannot come back before this century ends.
Jeane's crystal ball seems to be getting more cracked all the time! Also, her second coming
prediction involves her in all sorts of grave difficulties with her predictions and projections
of earthly activities for well into the twenty-first century. But we desire to note in particular
her prediction about Jewish conversion to Jesus. She states,
I have projected my Quest for information into the year 2000 and see Chinese and
Mongol troops invading the Middle East. I see devastating battles raging
uncontrollably east of the Jordan River. It is a war of East against West. It will be an
almost futile fight against an overwhelming foe-but the Lord will place Himself at the
side of Israel. And great losses will be suffered by the Orientals.
After the tide of battle has shifted, Israel will become one of the greatest miracles of
all times, for the Israelites will then realize that it was God's intervention that brought
about this ultimate victory, and they will finally accept Jesus Christ as the Son of God
(p. 151).
But so much for the time being of Jeane and her fallible finger tips, her crystal ball
gazing, etc.
Paul affirmed, "And so all Israel shall be saved." Many just assume on a surface
glimpse at this profound passage in Romans that the peerless Paul is referring to a totally
national conversion of his fleshly people and by the most remarkable of means. This will be
refuted later in this study.
A LOOK AT HAL LlNDSEYISM
Hal Lindsey, the very popular dispensational premillennialist of our time, seemingly
thinks the Lord, in some totally unexplained way. is going to have 144,000 Jewish Billy
Grahams at work during the Rapture and Great Tribulation period who will convert more
than any period has ever seen. Such is not much of a compliment to that zealous and highly
successful first century when the apostles were here and the gospel was taken to the ends of
the earth and was preached to every creature under heaven as Paul affirms so eloquently in
Romans 10: 18 and Colossians] :23. There is much that is wrong with the Lindsey assumption
that flows from his deeply imaginative mind. If the Lord does something to turn these
144,000 into great gospel carriers that he has not done in any other generation of Christianity.
then how will he avoid becoming a respecter of persons? Yet the Bible teaches in Acts 10:34-
35; Romans 2: II and I Peter J: 17 that he is NOT a respecter of persons.
This problem with his speculative position apparently does not bother Lindsey.
Perhaps he has not realized the hard place in which his visionary position actually places
him! This is not improbable at all for he has a special knack in getting himself between the
614
proverbial rock and hard place. But another Herculean problem projects itself also. If ALL
saints are Raptured and ONLY the wicked are alive on earth, who is going to convert these
144,000 Jewish Billy Grahams? Billy will not be around to do it for the Rapture people have
him off in the Rapture! No other saint can do so for they likewise will be way up in the
Rapture. How can there be such a mass of conversions and yet no saints are here on earth
during that period? And then another problem emerges. To what are they going to convert
them? Certainly, not to the kingdom for it is yet future and will not be here until Jesus comes
subsequent to the end of the Rapture and the conclusion of the Great Tribulation.
They cannot use the new birth for the new birth cannot exist unless the kingdom is
here for people to enter just as soon as they are born of water and of the Spirit. And who is
going to convert these 144,000 Billy Grahams to the truth that really saves? If these 144,000
Billy Grahams do not know any more about real conversion and its basic ingredients than the
Billy Graham of our day does, they will not have as many as one bona fide conversion gospel
style. Lindsey shows no more knowledge about the new birth and real conversion in his
works than does Billy in his daily newspaper columns filled with HIS-NOT GOD'S-answers
to various questions about salvation. The Rapture people need to get their act together. They
really need to vacate this visionary error with all its massive harm and injury to humanity
and get all the way back to Bible truth. Both they and the whole world be far better off than
we currently are. No person who espouses error can hope to avoid enmeshing himself into
hopeless, helpless and hapless contradictions. Mr. Lindsey and his book, THE LATE
GREAT PLANET EARTH, are standing and sustaining proof of this observation.
DIAGNOSING JEANE DIXONISM
Jeane Dixon is evidently on the popular religious bandwagon that God's special
people on earth today is National Israel. There is a "National lsrael" mania that pervades
nearly the whole religious world of so-called Christendom. She has God's fighting for Israel
in the Middle East battles against invading Orientals. Did you notice that she has them EAST
of the Jordan River?? Lindsey has them WEST of the Jordan River and at Meggido.
Astrology and Dispensational Premillennialism an~ in contradiction at this strategic point.
With the shift of the battle toward Israel's side the Jews as a nation will win a great victory.
Subsequent to this decisive battle and the emerging victory that will be hers. Israel will then
constitute one of the greatest miracles of all time. Apparently, this will be when the Messiah
rules in her midst for an entire millennium. Just subsequent to this great victory over Oriental
forces Israel will then realize that God's intervention on her side brought her the prized
victory and she (Israel) will finally accept Jesus Christ as God's Son. This does not do
anything in the way of enhancing the gospel and its power for the salvation of man. In fact it
is a total repudiation of the gospel and its power (its dynamite).
It will be a victory in a carnal conflict east of the Jordan River that triggers emerging
belief in Christ and faith in Christianity. But Paul teaches that the gospel not defeating an
opposing power in a military battle-is God's power to save (Rom. I: 16-17). Such is nothing
but a blasphemous rejection of the Great Commission of Matthew 2S: IS-20; Mark 16: 15-
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16 and Luke 24:47. It is a repudiation of the power as residing in the sword of the Spirit (Heb.
4: 12; Eph. 6: 17) or the gospel and its power to beget people (I Cor. 4: 15; 15: 1,2; James I:
IS, 21). If God gave these Jews something in addition to the gospel to trigger their belief in
Christ that he has deliberately withheld from all others across the many centuries of
Christianity, then to that degree he becomes a respecter of persons. Yet the Bible denies thrice
that he is such (Acts 10:34-35; Rom. 2: 11; 1 Pet. t: 17). People like Jeane Dixon have NO
respect for the gospel in all its fulness. If she did, she would neither be messed up and mixed
up in the nefarious world of astrology nor would she be a self-acclaimed prophetess of our
day. No person acquainted with truth will question or quibble this point surely!
PAUL IN ROMANS 11:26 DEFENDED
Paul is not predicting mass conversions of Jews by supernatural and miraculous

powers separate and apart from the gospel or by stunning military successes as Lindsey,
Dixon and others do without batting either eye in embarrassment. Paul tells the manner in
which all Israel shaII be saved. It is conditional. It is through the Christ-the Divine Deliverer-
mentioned in this very Roman text. It is by their turning from ungodliness as a way of attitude
and action. Any Israelite saved by such will be active-not passive-in this conversion process.
Simply put, Israel is converted just as are Gentiles. It is on a one-to-one basis and in exact
proportion to their hearing Christ, their faith in him, their repentance, their confessing him in
the here and now in order that he might confess them in the there and then, their baptism into
the saving Christ and then lives of faithfulness in the kingdom of God that is here right now-
not in some type of visionary Utopia of a millennial period. Romans II :26 does not contradict
the very thesis of the very book in which it is situated-Romans-which stresses justification
by faith in Christ or obedience to God's gospel.
CONCLUSION
God has only one way to convert Jew or Gentile. This one way is the gospel. Both
Jew and Gentile are to hear and heed it. This calls for the Messiah and his gospel-not a
military Messiah and a great victory either EAST of Jordan's waters or WEST of the famed
Palestinian stream of meandering waters.
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “The Church of Tomorrow: Horizons and Destiny” -
1983, Robert Taylor Jr.: Will there be a conversion to Christ of the Jewish nation?. Pages
341-345.
616
Error
ERROR
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British Israelism
(Cai.org)
The Bible, broadly speaking, consists of approximately one third historical

documentation, one third serves as guidelines for us as Christians, and one third of its
contents are prophecy. We read in 2 TIMOTHY 3:16,17:
"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof,
for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works."
God assures us in ISAIAH 46:9-10 that EVERYTHING He has decided will come to
pass. There is a connection between the Israel of the Old Testament and Great Britain today.
The origin of this relationship can be found with ABRAHAM and his genealogical tree:
Abraham
GENESIS 12:1-2, God's promise that He would make a great nation of Abram
(Abraham). GENESIS 17:1-2, Abram (In Hebrew: 'a high father') received a new name from
God: Abraham (In Hebrew: 'a father of many nations').
In verse 7 of the same chapter, God confirmed that this would be an everlasting
covenant between Him and Abraham.
Isaac
Abraham gave the birthright of the firstborn to Isaac even though he was not the
firstborn son (GENESIS 25:5; GENESIS 17:18). The actual firstborn was Ishmael, born of
Abraham's maid Hagar. Ishmael was later to live east of Isaac, and was to become the father
of the Arabs (GENESIS 16:12).
Esau and Jacob
These were the two children of Isaac and his wife Rebekah. Esau was the firstborn,
but Jacob (In Hebrew: 'supplanter') cunningly obtained the blessing of his father
(GENESIS 27:26-29).
What was the meaning of this birthright?
Birthright and Sceptre
The birthright of the firstborn includes the material blessings owned by a father;
which in this case, also included the promises that God had reserved for Abraham and his
descendants.
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The birthright is a natural right obtained through birth. This privilege only comes
through descent and does not depend on any other conditions or attributes.
It is also important to explain another word: 'Sceptre'. The Sceptre symbolizes the
royal office and power. Possession of the Sceptre means the continuation of the royal line.
This royal line ultimately leads to Jesus Christ - the King of kings. Both the birthright and
the Sceptre were passed to Isaac and later to Jacob.
The Twelve Sons of Israel Jacob:
Two events in the life of Jacob were

particularly important:
First event: Jacob dreamt of a ladder

reaching to heaven. He anointed the
stone that he had used as a pillow with
oil. This stone would reappear at a
much later date (GENESIS 28:10-22).
Second event: After wrestling with

the angel of God, Jacob received a
new name: ISRAEL (In Hebrew: 'a
prince of God') (GENESIS 32:24-28).
Reuben:
The firstborn was Reuben.

However, he did not obtain the
birthright because he lay with his
father's concubine, as we read in
GENESIS 35:22.
Joseph:
Joseph was also one of the twelve sons of Israel. His brothers, out of jealousy, sold
him as a slave (GENESIS 37:12-36). However, God blessed him. He became 'Prime Minister'
of Egypt and through this he had the opportunity to prevent Egypt, as well as his entire family,
from starving to death.
His whole family came to Egypt to dwell in the land of Goshen (See GENESIS 46).
Ephraim and Manasseh:
Joseph had two sons: Ephraim and Manasseh. They were blessed by Joseph's father, Israel
(formerly called Jacob).
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GENESIS 48
Verses 1-4: Repetition of the promises of God to Jacob.
Verse 5: Israel adopted the two sons of Joseph.
Verses 13-16: "...and let my name (Israel) be named on them, and the name of my fathers
Abraham and Isaac..."
Verse 18: Both obtained the birthright. Manasseh (the firstborn) was to become, "a
great people", and Ephraim (the younger one) was to become "a multitude
(Commonwealth) of nations."
We will hear more about Ephraim and Manasseh and which nations they represent
today at a later stage.
GENESIS 49:8-10: Jacob blessed his twelve sons

and handed the Sceptre over to Judah. This meant
that the royal power and its line would continue via
Judah.
Some 225 years later, another Pharaoh was ruling

Egypt. He no longer knew Joseph and his family and
turned the Israelites into slaves.
Moses:
He was the one, called by God, to lead the people of

Israel (two to three million people) out of Egypt.
Moses received the ten commandments at Mount

Sinai. The continuous rebellion of the people towards
God caused them to wander in the desert for 40 years
as a punishment. At that time the people of Israel did
not have a king. God Himself ruled and led His
people.
All tribes together are the people of Israel.
Joshua:
Joshua was the successor of Moses and Israel reached the Promised Land under his
leadership. The Promised Land was divided up amongst the tribes.
Northern and Southern Kingdom of Israel
Judges:
Judges ruled the land and ensured that God's commandments were being kept and that
offenders were being punished.
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The people of Israel murmured against this and wanted to have a KING after their pagan
traditions.
Strife and war breaks out between the tribes of Israel,

and the Promised Land is finally parted into the
Northern and Southern Kingdoms.
The first king to rule over Israel was Saul. However, he

was rejected by God for disobedience during his term
of office and he and his sons were destroyed. The
successor of Saul was David (In Hebrew: 'beloved'). He
was from the tribe of Judah and was called "a man after
God's own heart"!
God made fantastic promises to David: See

2 SAMUEL 7:12-16,19:
Verse 13b "...and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever."
Verse 16 "And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee:
thy throne shall be established for ever."
These promises were unconditional and everlasting. Verse 19 applied to the distant future.
Solomon became king after David. However, he turned away from God and was
punished accordingly. However, this did not affect the promises of God and the covenant
made between God and David (1 KINGS 1). The divided Kingdom was reunited for some
years during David's reign, but was finally divided into the Northern and Southern kingdoms.
Jews – Israel
At this point it is important to briefly explain the words Jews and Israel. Many
interchange these two terms at their pleasure believing that they are two different words for
one and the same people. However, this is not the case.
Originally, the nation of Israel consisted of the twelve tribes, their name bring derived
from their ancestor Israel (= Jacob). Judah was one of those tribes. After the division into the
Northern and Southern kingdoms, these tribes - the people of Israel - were divided into two
groups. Subsequently, the Southern kingdom only consisted of the tribe of Judah (therefore
the term "Jews"), the tribe of Benjamin, and parts of the tribe of Levi (see maps 2a and 2b on
page 4).
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During the time following this, only the Northern kingdom, consisting of the ten tribes
of Israel, was called 'Israel'. Therefore, when the Bible mentions the 'tribe of Israel', in the
first instance it refers to the ten separated tribes.
As we know, the name "Israel" was also given especially to the sons of Joseph
(Ephraim and Manasseh) (GENESIS 48:16).
David
God gave the kingdom of Israel to David for an everlasting covenant

(2 CHRONICLES 13:4-5). In another verse, we see that God promised he would have
descendants on his throne forever (PSALM 89: 29-30). This covenant was to remain even if
his sons were to sin and fall away from God (PSALM 89:31-37).
From Rehoboam (Solomon's successor) to Zedekiah, the continuous succession to the

throne of the descendants of David can be seen. However, the succession seems to break off
thereafter.
Jeremiah
Jeremiah, the prophet at the time of the above-mentioned King Zedekiah, played an
important role in the forthcoming events in the history of Israel.
This may already be noticeable by the fact that he is one of the few of whom it is said
in the Bible that they were chosen by God before birth. John the Baptist and Jesus Christ are
the other two. Jeremiah's mission is clearly explained in chapter 1, verse 10 of the book
named after him:
"See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and
to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant."
ZEDEKIAH, the successor to David, was captured and taken to Babylon. His sons
and the nobles were killed (JEREMIAH 39:1-7). He remained in captivity until his death
(JEREMIAH 52:11).
This brought up the question of who should continue the line of David? Who was to
be the successor to David's throne? One hope remained with Zedekiah's predecessor
Jehoiachin. He was captured by Nebuchadnezzar but was later released (2 KINGS 25:27-30).
However, he was out of the question as a successor to the throne as God Himself had
proclaimed that neither Jehoiachin (= Coniah) nor any of his children would ever sit on the
throne again (JEREMIAH 22:24-25,30).
Would God be able to keep his covenant with David - that his throne would endure
forever? Before answering this question, let us have a look at the situation of the people of
Israel at that time.
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At the time of King Zedekiah's reign (King of the Southern Kingdom), the ten tribes
of Israel (Northern Kingdom) had already been in Assyrian captivity for 130 years. The
conquerors reoccupied the vacated Northern Kingdom with other nations. Amongst them
were inhabitants from Babylon, Cuthah, Ava, Hamath, etc. (2 KINGS 17:24). These people
still lived in Samaria at the time of Jesus. We know from the Bible that the Jews (Southern
Kingdom) did not mingle with the heathens from Samaria even up to the time of Jesus, 600
years later. The capital of the Northern Kingdom was Samaria.
Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Daniel were used as prophets when the Jews were taken away
(130 years after the people of Israel).
Therefore, Jeremiah had fulfilled the first part of his mission: "to pull down and to
destroy", but the kingdom had not yet been rebuilt.
As we already know, all of Zedekiah's sons were dead. Jeremiah was also amongst
the captives that were to be taken to Babylon. He was released by Nebuchadnezzar with
permission to go anywhere he desired. His journey took him to Mizpah (JEREMIAH 40:6)
The reason for this was Zedekiah's daughters (JEREMIAH 41:10). Jeremiah knew
that Hebrew law also allowed daughters to become rightful heirs in the absence of any male
heirs. However, one condition was that they had to marry within their own tribe
(NUMBERS 27:7-10; NUMBERS 36).
Jeremiah fled to Egypt with the princesses and his attendant Baruch. He had found
the princesses; what he needed now was a man from the royal line and the royal tribe of
Judah. In order to find them we have to go right back to the genealogical tree of Judah.
In GENESIS 38:29 & 30 we read of the birth of Judah's twin sons. They were called
Zarah and Pharez. Zarah was actually the firstborn, but he drew his hand back in (with the
scarlet thread) during the birth; so Pharez came out of the womb first.
The breach that the midwife spoke about (GENESIS 38:28-30) would be healed at a
much later date.
The line of Pharez, the second to be born, was blessed; and David was a descendant
from this line.
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A healing of the breach could only mean that the Sceptre would ultimately have to be
transferred from the Pharez-line to the Zarah-line. This transfer was not made before the time
of King Zedekiah of Judah as he was a descendant of the Pharez-line.
Therefore, this had

to happen after King
Zedekiah was overthrown.
However, God had
promised David that his
line (Pharez) was to remain
on the throne throughout all
generations. Therefore, the
healing could only be
realised if an heir to the
throne of the Pharez-line
would marry a descendant
of the Zarah-line.
History shows us
that a group from the line of
Zarah reached the Irish coast via the Middle East at the time of King David's reign.
The People of Israel today
Let us go back to the people of Israel (Northern Kingdom) after they were deported
and scattered. Where did they go? Or to be more precise: Where are they today? The Bible
gives some prophecies about the whereabouts of Israel after being scattered:
Let us look at all the signs which characterize the place where Israel was to possess land:
1. They will be without a king for a long time. HOSEA 3:4, "They shall abide many
days without a king".
2. The throne will be in the sea and the people will rule over the sea. 2 SAMUEL 7:10:
"And move no more". So Israel was to finally possess land. HOSEA 12:1: "Follow
after the east wind = towards the west". PSALM 89:25: I will set David's hand (=
Sceptre) into the sea; his throne is to be in the sea, and he will control the sea-routes."
3. This land is to the north-west of Israel. ISAIAH 49:3,6; In reference to Israel (Jacob).
Verse 12: From far and from the north and from the west = north-west (there is no
Hebrew word for north-west).
4. It is on a far-away island. JEREMIAH 31:9-10: In the isles "afar off".
When you take a map of Europe and draw a straight line from Jerusalem to the North
West, through the European continent to the sea, and then on to the isles in the sea - you
come straight to the British Isles!
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Furthermore, there are numerous secular incidents that show clearly that Great Britain
and the USA are in fact the "lost tribes" of Ephraim and Manasseh. We will have a look at
some of them:
Hebrew Names
The people of Israel are known as the 'people of the covenant'. The Hebrew word for
'covenant' is 'berith' (pronounced 'brit'). The Hebrew word for 'man' or 'people' is 'iysh' or
'ish'. The word for 'covenant man' or 'covenant people' would therefore read 'British'. Is it
mere coincidence that God's "covenant people" are today called 'British'?
Abraham received the promise from God that his seed should be called in Isaac
(GENESIS 21:12). This is emphasized again in ROMANS 9:7 and HEBREWS 11:18. Is it
merely coincidence that the term 'Saxons' sounds very similar to 'Saac's sons'?
Tracing Dan
Jacob prophesies in GENESIS 49:17 that the tribe of Dan will be like a "serpent by
the way".
The tribe of Dan originally lived in a coastal area, by the Mediterranean, west of
Jerusalem. We read in JOSHUA 19:47 that the tribe of Dan conquered a foreign city and
named it after their father Dan. The passages in JUDGES 18:11-12,29 confirm that this was
common practice for the tribe of Dan.
The tribe of Dan left behind many geographical names in the course of its migration
that sound much like its own name: Den, Don, Din. For example, we can find names of rivers
such as the Dnjepr, Dnjestr and Don. Further evidence is the Danube and Denmark (meaning
"mark of Dan").
Irish historical sources show that new immigrants arriving in Ireland were called
"Tuatha de Danaan". Translated, this means, "the tribe of Dan". Occasionally "Tuathe De"
was mentioned, which means something like "God's people".
Many other signs can be found in Ireland: Dans-Laugh, Dan-Sower, Dun-dalk, Dun-
drum, Don-egal Bay, Don-agal City, Dun-gloe, Din-gle, Dunsmore, etc. etc. The name 'Dunn'
in Irish has the same meaning as Dan in the Hebrew: 'Judge'. Scotland is just as rich in 'Dans',
'Dons' and 'Duns' as Ireland.
Ireland's Historical Records
The history of Ireland gives us further clues as to where Jeremiah "planted" the throne
anew after having "rooted it out". Some centuries before David, a large group of immigrants
by the name of "Tuatha de Danaan" (the tribe of Dan) reached the Irish coast via the sea,
drove away the other tribes and settled down there. Later on, during David's lifetime (approx.
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1000 B.C.) another group, this time from the line of Zarah, came to Ireland through the
Middle East.
In 569 B.C. an old patriarch with white hair came to Ireland. In historical documents
he is at times referred to as a 'Saint'. He had various attendants accompanying him. One was
called 'Simon Brach' who was also called 'Breck', 'Berech', 'Baruch' or 'Berach' in other
historical illustrations. There was also a princess with the Hebrew name of 'Thepi' with them.
'Thepi' was only a nickname, her proper name was 'Tea-Thepi'.
Jeremiah carried some significant items on his journey to Ireland: amongst other
things a harp, a trunk, and a stone with the name 'Lia-Fail' or 'Stone of Destiny'. The name of
the stone reads the same from left to right (our way of reading) as from right to left (Hebrew
way of reading): Lia-Fail.
It can hardly be called a coincidence that most of the kings of Ireland, Scotland and
Great Britain were crowned on this stone - including the present Queen Elizabeth II.
Today, this stone is in Edinburgh Castle, after being moved from under the coronation
seat in Westminster Abbey. Until the fifties, there was a plate next to the stone with the
inscription "Jacob's pillarstone" (GENESIS 28:18).
Even the red hand in the coat of arms of

Northern Ireland can be explained with the Zarah-
line (scarlet thread). Herremon
Herremon (a prince of the line of Zarah), the

husband of the Hebrew princess Thepi ascended his
father's throne to be king.
The crown worn by the kings from this line

had twelve points (= number of the sons of Israel).
When all the facts are gathered together, one can

easily come to the following conclusion:
1. The white-haired patriarch and 'Saint' was

Jeremiah.
2. The Hebrew princess Tea was the daughter of King Zedekiah of Judah.
3. The attendant of the patriarch 'Simon Brach' was the writer Baruch.
4. King Herremon was a descendant of Zarah and the marriage to a woman of the
Pharez-line healed the old "breach".
Therefore, we should no longer be surprised to find that there is a continuous line of

descent from David to the present Queen Elizabeth II.
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The Word of God was spread in particular from England (Ephraim) and America
(Manasseh) which have their origin in their identification with Israel.
Therefore, it is of no surprise that the geographical Israel of this day (= tribe of Judah)
always has America and England at its side when dealing with difficult situations.
"For the word of the Lord is right; and all his works are done in truth." PSALM 33:4
The Coronation
The coronation ceremony of the kings and queens of Great Britain goes back to the
year 732 A.D.
The similarities between today's ceremony and that of the kings of the house of David
are amazing.
Entry of the king into the abbey
The king is received at the door of Westminster Abbey by political and ecclesiastical
dignitaries and is then led inside. The choir sings PSALM 122 - written by King David.
Presentation of the king
The Archbishop of Canterbury presents the new king to the people. He is announced
to the four corners of the world. With each announcement, the people give their consent with
the exclamation "God save the king!"
The people of Israel shouted the same words for Saul, their first King
(1 SAMUEL 10:24).
Anointing with oil
While the king is seated on the coronation seat the Archbishop recites the following
prayer:
"O Lord, Holy Father, Who by anointing with oil didst of old make and consecrate
Kings, Priests and Prophets to teach and govern Thy people Israel: Bless and sanctify thy
chosen servant (Name), who by our office and ministry is now to be anointed with this oil,
and consecrated King of this Realm. Strengthen him, O Lord, with the Holy Ghost the
Comforter; Confirm and stablish him with thy free and princely Spirit, the Spirit of Wisdom
and Government; the Spirit of Counsel and Ghostly Strength; the Spirit of Knowledge and
true Godliness, and fill him, O Lord, with the Spirit of thy Holy Fear, now and for ever.
Amen."
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At that moment, the choir begins to sing the hymn "Zadok the priest" by Handel. The
hymn talks about Solomon being anointed king by the priest Zadok in 969 B.C.
(1 KINGS 1:34-35,39).
Handing over of the royal insignia
The king is girded with two swords: the sharp sword of spiritual righteousness and
the blunt sword of mercy (compare with ZECHARIAH 7:9).
Royal Insignia - The Bracelets
Bracelet: This insignia goes back to King Saul (see

2 SAMUEL 1:10). It shows the king to be the military head.
Royal Insignia - The Orb
Orb: When the orb is handed over, the Archbishop points out to
the king that Jesus Christ is the actual ruler of this world, the
King of kings and the Lord of Lords. Those who do neither obtain His
authority, nor keep His commandments, will not be
able to rule with a joyful hand.
The Robe: The king receives a priestly garment just

like the high priest Aaron did in EXODUS 28:4.
This shows his role as head of the church.
Royal Insignia - The Coronation Ring Coronation
Ring:
The ring signifies the unity between

the king and his people; his
"marriage" to the nation (see
JEREMIAH 3:14). In old times, the
ring was a symbol for power and
honour (GENESIS 41:42; LUKE 15:22).
Two Sceptres:
The two sceptres go back to the time of the exodus of the people of Israel from
Egypt. At that time, God chose Moses and Aaron to be the leaders. The sceptre
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with the cross represents royal power. It corresponds to the rod of Moses which was a symbol
of the power God had given him (EXODUS 14:15-16).
The sceptre with the dove (= Holy Spirit) symbolises righteousness and mercy. We
repeatedly read in Exodus and Numbers that Aaron had a rod when exercising his office as
high priest.
With the death of Jesus (MATTHEW 27:51) the giving of sacrifices and the laws about
sacrifices were rendered invalid (COLOSSIANS 2:14). However, the national laws that
contained the commandments, statutes and legal ordinances (DEUTERONOMY 4:1; 5:31;
7:11; LEVITICUS 26:46) remained and still apply today (MATTHEW 5:17; DANIEL 9:25).
Jesus Christ will take up the throne of David on His return. He will hold both the
sceptres as King and High Priest and will rule over all the nations of the earth.
At the end of the handing over PSALM 45:6-7 is quoted.
Coronation:
The king, sitting on the coronation seat, receives the crown. The crown has a cross to
symbolize that Jesus Christ is the actual king and ruler. Twelve big precious stones are set in
the bottom rim of the crown. Their number and their color is of great importance; they are
identical to those worn by the high priests of Israel (EXODUS 28:15-21; ZECHARIAH 9:16-
17)
Presentation of the Bible: Royal Insignia - The Crown
The king is handed a Bible covered in scarlet velvet

with the following words:
"Our gracious King: to keep your Majesty ever

mindful of the Law and the Gospel of God as the rule for
the whole life and government of Christian princes, we
present you with this book, the most valuable thing that this
world affords. Here is Wisdom: This is the royal Law:
These are the lively Oracles of God."
It was already announced to Moses that the kings of

Israel should receive the words and statutes of God at their coronation
(DEUTERONOMY 17:14-19). Immediately after that the choir sings PSALM 21:1-3.
Confirmation of the king by the people
At the end of the coronation, everyone present gives their consent to the rightful
election of the king by exclaiming repeatedly and with a loud voice: "God save the king"
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(1 KINGS 1:39-40). The cheers are accompanied by the loud sound of the trumpets
(2 KINGS 11:14).
As we can see, the various events of the coronation ceremony have their foundation
in the Bible. God calls upon us to honour and respect the king or queen that He has set.
** GOD SAVE THE QUEEN **
The Royal Coat of Arms of Great Britain
The different coats of arms in the world are a symbol of the history of the nations
represented thereby.
The Royal-British coat of arms has details

that identify the people of Great Britain as the
descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
The coat of arms of Great Britain has been

in existence in its present form (apart from minor
variations) since the reign of King James I (1603-
1625 A.D.). He was the one who instigated a new
English translation of the Bible, the 'King James
Bible'. Fortynine of the greatest scholars in the
biblical languages (Hebrew and Greek) worked
on it using the Jewish manuscripts (called
'Massora') until the King James Bible was
published in 1611 (ROMANS 9:4).
God blessed Great Britain and America as long as they respected this Bible. One
historical example may clearly show this: King Philippe of Spain ordered his 'Armada', hence
thought to be invincible, to attack Great Britain. On 19th July 1588, the sails of the Spanish
fleet were sighted near the British coast. Even though the British fleet could only
counterattack with 80 small ships, against the 149 ships of the "Spanish Armada", the
miraculous happened. A heavy storm, at exactly that time, gave Britain the victory. In the
knowledge of God's intervention, Queen Elizabeth I, ordered a silver coin to be made with
the inscription: "He blew and they were scattered", with the name of God 'Jehovah' in the
Hebrew language written above it. On the back of the coin was a picture of a church founded
on a rock with the Latin inscription: "I may be attacked but not wounded."
The Inscription on the Shield
The emblems on the shield are all older in origin. The English lions are in the first
and the fourth quarter, the Scottish lion in the second quarter. This lion is the lion of Judah
which was on the royal standard of the Scottish Stewarts (Royal House of Scotland) which
was transferred on to the British coat of arms after the unification of England and Scotland
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in 1603. In the third quarter is the harp representing Northern Ireland which is the harp of
David. Therefore, all the emblems on the present coat of arms have their origin in Judah.
This confirms God's promise in 2 SAMUEL 7:12-13 - a promise that was fulfilled to
the letter! Queen Elizabeth can trace her family line all the way back to King David. Copies
of her genealogical tree can be found in the British Museum and in Windsor Castle.
The Inscription "Dieu et mon Droit"
When translated, this French sentence means "God and my right" and it appears
beneath the coat of arms on the ribbons. It talks about a "birthright".
If one considers all the promises of birthright given by God to Abraham and then to
Isaac, Jacob and Joseph it becomes clear that these promises were literally fulfilled in today's
Anglo-Saxons. It is therefore to be expected that "the promise of the birthright" appears on
the coat of arms of Great Britain.
The French sentence written around the shield means: "Dishonour to him who thinks
ill of it." (GENESIS 27:29).
The Lion
The lion, being the King amongst the animals (PROVERBS 30:30), represents the
predominance of Israel amongst the nations. The Bible links the symbol of the lion with Israel
(GENESIS 49:9; MICAH 5:8).
The Unicorn
Like the lion, the unicorn is also a symbol of power and strength. Moses and Balaam
connect the symbol of the unicorn with Israel (NUMBERS 24:8).
Another connection can be seen in DEUTERONOMY 33:17. The unicorn was

originally part of the Scottish coat of arms, but it was added to the English lion in the year
1603 A.D. Historical records show that the unicorn could also be found on the standard of
the tribe of Ephraim during its migration through the desert. This is another incident that
points out the British descent from one half of the tribe of Ephraim.
The Crowned Lion
The crowned lion sits on the crown above the helmet on the shield. We read in
LUKE 1:32-33:
"...and the Lord God shall give unto him (Jesus) the throne of his father David:
And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever..."
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Therefore, Jesus is represented by the lion of the tribe of Judah (REVELATION 5:5) in a
position that emphasises His right to rule over the House of David and Jacob.
The Helmet and the Shield
The apostle Paul mentioned these symbols in his letter to the Ephesians. In
EPHESIANS 2:12, Paul uses the phrase "Commonwealth of Israel", an unusual expression
in those days as a Commonwealth of Israel did not exist then.
According to Old Testament prophecies Israel was to be a special blessing for the
other nations in the last days.
Due to their intense missionary activities, America and Great Britain became mainly
responsible for the spreading of the Bible and consequently the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
in the last days, as prophesied in the Bible (ACTS 2:16-21).
The Tongues of Fire next to the Helmet
To the right and to the left of the helmet ornaments spread out like "tongues of fire".
These ornaments point out the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. We read the following
explanation in the Bible:
"And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of
them." ACTS 2:3
Identification of Manasseh
Israel's Blessings
The national promises were originally given to Abraham and were repeated for the
descendants of Isaac and Jacob (= Israel). Of the twelve sons of Israel, Joseph was to be the
one to inherit the national promises and his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh inherited them
thereafter.
Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh on his deathbed and he preferred - contrary to
tradition - the younger Ephraim and not the "firstborn" Manasseh (GENESIS 48:19). As
could be seen earlier, the Royal coat of arms of Great Britain contains symbols that connects
them to the promises of Ephraim.
The Thirteenth Tribe
When Jacob blessed Ephraim and Manasseh, they were automatically put into the
same position as the other twelve tribes. As the blessings of Ephraim were greater than those
of Manasseh, it is generally referred to as the thirteenth tribe.
The tribe Manasseh was led into captivity in 744 B.C. If one applies the prophesied
punishment of 2520 years (seven times) to Manasseh, one arrives at 1776 A.D. This was
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precisely the year when the United States obtained their independence from Great Britain. In
the previous year (1775), thirteen states agreed to sign the Declaration of Independence; and
in 1783 Great Britain consented. Here are two points of identification: the period of time and
the thirteen states.
Multiples of the Number 13
There are thirteen stars above the eagle; the Latin words "E Pluribus Unum" = "one
of many", again consisting of thirteen letters; the olive branch with 13 leaves and 13 olives
on the left side; 13 arrows on the right side; as well as 13 stripes on the shield. (The stars are
mentioned by Joseph regarding his dream in Genesis 37:9). In this case each star represents
a tribe. On the seal, each star represents a state of the original union.
The Seal of the United States of America

"One out of many" "He prospereth our
Undertakings"
Obverse Reverse
"The New Order of Peoples" GENESIS 48:19 "He (Manasseh) shall be a great
people"
The seal was designed in 1782 and introduced in 1789. On the front is an eagle which
corresponds with the one in Revelation 12:14 when Israel fled into the wilderness to be
nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. Manasseh and Ephraim were still united at
that time.
The words "Annuit Coeptis" which again consists of 13 letters, also have a spiritual
meaning. They mean: "He prospers our undertakings" or specifically in this case "He
promotes our independence". The founders of the state at that time indeed had to rely on God
as they had no political guidance or financial support to fall back on.
The Standard of the President
This standard is comparable to the "Royal Standard" of Great Britain and is used by
the President as a means of representation like the flag of the Royal House of Britain.
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A Great Nation
Let us go back to Genesis 48:19. The Lord spoke through Israel that the descendants
of Manasseh were to become a great nation, but not as great as Ephraim whose descendants
were to become a multitude of nations.
Both Great Britain and the United States have many Israelite roots; but only Great
Britain became a multitude of nations and only America has the sign of 13 - identifying a
great nation. These facts, together with the punishment period of seven times, identify Great
Britain as Ephraim's descendants and the United States of America as Manasseh's
descendants.
The Olive Tree
The olive tree is another symbol and is used in the Bible on several occasions to
illustrate Israel (for example ROMANS 11:14-29).
The Back of the Seal
We know from the Bible that the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, were born
in Egypt near the pyramids.
The Great Pyramid on the back of the seal has 13 layers of stone, one for each tribe.
The founders of the United States were certainly not aware of the fact that the Great
Pyramid had a system of passages inside which reveals prophecies concerning Israel when
applying the British unit of measurement (inches). The system of passages points out
numerous important dates in the history of Israel, i.e. the exodus out of Egypt and the
crucifixion of Jesus Christ, the beginning of World War I on 4th August 1914 and its end on
11.11.1918. The cornerstone (Jesus), that was rejected is also missing on the real pyramid.
Conclusion
The identification of America and Great Britain as Israel does not mean they have
spiritual predominance over other nations, but rather that it is their duty to be an example to
the other nations. Particularly in the past few decades, these nations are no longer fulfilling
this task and are going further and further downhill for that very reason.
However, the fulfillment of the promises to Israel shows the reliability of Biblical
prophecy in a fascinating manner and therefore confirms the authority of the Bible as a whole.
"We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed,
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise
in your hearts" 2 PETER 1:19.
Source: https://www.cai.org/bible-studies/british-israel
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THE BRITISH-ISRAEL-WORLD FEDERATION
(Etherly Bishop Auckland)
Our Beliefs
The Federation believes that Christ is our personal Saviour and Redeemer of the
nation. We also believe that the descendants of the so-called “Lost Ten Tribes” of the
Northern House of Israel are to be found in the Anglo-Saxon-Celtic and kindred peoples of
today. As the Federation believes in the whole Bible it therefore believes the Covenants
made between God and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob-Israel are everlasting and that the British
nation plays an important part of God’s great plan for world order.
Here are a few of the 72 marks of Israel to be found in the Holy Bible
Israel was to spread abroad to the West, East, North and South: "And thy seed shall
be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to
the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be
blessed" (Genesis 28:14). It was in that exact sequence that the British Empire was
established as the only non-totalitarian empire that the world has seen.
Israel was to have a monarch of the Davidic line: "For thus saith the Lord; David shall
never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel" (Jeremiah 33:17). The people
of the Jews do not have a monarchy and the Church is the Body of Christ, its Lord and Head.
It can be shown that the Royal House of Britain is descended from King David. Further, the
British monarchs are anointed in the same way as Zadok the Priest anointed the Kings of
Israel (Details of the Coronation Service still used for the crowning of British Monarchs may
be obtained by writing to our Headquarters).
Israel to be defended by God and as a global maritime power could not be defeated
(Numbers 24:7-9). This was clearly seen in World Wars I and II and looking through our
history, in many other great battles such as against the Spanish Armada and at Trafalgar.
Israel was to carry the Gospel to the whole world: "This people have I formed for myself;
they shall show forth my praise" (Isaiah 43:21). This our great missionary enterprise achieved
over past centuries. The Christian Gospel went with the British Empire.
The Stone of Israel must be in the possession of Joseph, the “fruitful bough” of the
birthright (I Chronicles 5:2) blessing: “from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel”
(Genesis 49:24). That is, from that time Joseph kept the stone of Israel, which God had said
to his father Jacob: “This stone shall be God’s house” (Genesis 28:22-24), the great
worldwide blessings on Joseph would ensue (Genesis 49:25-26). Why have British
monarchs been crowned over a rough hewn piece of sandstone for over a thousand years?
When Queen Elizabeth II was presented with the Holy Bible at the Coronation Service these
words were addressed to her: "Our gracious Queen: to keep your Majesty ever mindful of the
Law and the Gospel of God as the Rule for the whole life and government of Christian
Princes, we present you with this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords."
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During the anointing ceremony, the most sacred ceremony on earth, the choir sings
the following words based on I Kings 1:39-40: "Zadok the Priest and Nathan the Prophet
anointed Solomon king, and all the people rejoiced and said: God save the king, Long live
the king. May the king live forever. Amen. Hallelujah." God save the King/Queen are the
opening words of our National Anthem. Why do we follow the biblical pattern so precisely?
Why did George I stand up when he first heard Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus and why
do we still stand on such occasions?
Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Fisher, 1st Baron Fisher of Kilverstone (1841-1920), once
remarked: "We are a wonderful nation. Astounding how we muddle through. There is only
one explanation – we are the Lost Ten Tribes."
Source: http://www.britishisrael.co.uk/beliefs.php
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BRITISH-ISRAEL BASICS
(Brithish-Israel.com)
Migrations of Israel introduction
DNA Evidence for British-Israel
New evidence from Cambridge University reveals that the DNA of NorthWest
European peoples matches that of ancient Israel. Read our documented evidence page for the
actual DNA facts.
Is the Church A Substitute For Israel?
There is a widespread belief among Christians that Israel, the nation which God
brought into being to be the instrument of His Purpose, has been replaced by the Christian
Church. It is true that, as a result of disobedience and sin, the Israel nation fell and that her
people were carried away into exile from which only a remnant returned (Ezra 3:8; 9:8; Neh.
1:3). It is also true that the few who did return, called Jews, refused to accept the Son of God
and were consequently set aside by Him as the instrument of His Purpose (Matt. 21:43; Jn.
1:11-12).
So, with Israel “lost” (Jer. 50:6; Matt. 5:10; 15:24) and with the Jews’ rejection, it has
appeared to some that God’s Plan of using Israel as the instrument of His Purpose has failed.
Therefore, they assume that He must have substituted the Christian Church for the people of
Israel.
However, before we charge God with having made a mistake, or say that He has had
to change His mind and substitute a church for a nation, let us consider for a moment that
purpose for which Israel was chosen.
When read as a whole, the Bible shows very clearly that God brought the Israel people
into being and formed them into a nation to demonstrate the righteousness of His Kingdom—
that perfect social order and government which He designed for mankind; to show the
benefits of obedience to His moral laws in ALL things, religious, political, social and
economic; and to extend His Kingdom and the administration of His precepts throughout the
earth.
A moment’s thought will show that this Purpose can never be accomplished by the
Christian Church. The Church could not function as a social order or even as a government.
Neither could it demonstrate the righteousness of God’s kingdom, for it has no means of
administering or enforcing His laws. Yet without doing so, how can it replace Israel in the
fulfillment of God’s Plan?
To quibble by saying that God has changed His Plan is to contradict His own Words,
for the Bible quotes Him as saying, “I am the Lord, I change not.” (Mal. 3:6)
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The folly of presuming that God’s plans have failed and that substitutes are in order
is shown in the Bible story of Abraham and his wife Sarah. When Sarah passed the normal
age of child-bearing without giving birth to the son whom God had promised them, they lost
faith and their attempt to provide a substitute ended in tragic failure.
So also in this matter, we dare not attempt to substitute a Church for the Divinely-
ordained nation. Each serves its own purpose in God’s Plan. The function of the Christian
Church is to proclaim Christ and the gospel of salvation to all people, whereas Israel was
chosen to demonstrate the righteousness of God’s kingdom and laws on a national basis and
to extend and administer them throughout the earth. Thus each has its part to play in God’s
Great Purpose and only evil can come of any attempt to substitute one for the other.
When Abraham and Sarah could see no possibility of having the son whom God had
promised, they ignored the promise and tried a substitute. Likewise many Christians can see
no possibility of Israel fulfilling the Abrahamic covenants, so they ignore God’s promise and
try to substitute the Church. Even as the other attempt ended in tragedy, so also will this, for,
“God is not a man that he should lie; neither the son of Man that he should repent; hath he
said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Num. 23:19)
Repeatedly and in the most emphatic terms God has promised that as long as the
heavens and the earth remain, and as long as we continue to have day and night, Israel will
continue as the instrument of His Purpose (Jer. 31:31-37). The heavens and the earth are still
with us and we are still having day and night. Therefore Israel will fulfill her Divinely-
appointed commission, and the claim that she has been replaced by the Church is false. For
more information, see our "Introduction To The British-Israel Evangel"
Lost Israel's Further Country
Our Movement And Its Mission:
This website is sponsored by the Canadian British-Israel Association, an organization

composed of Bible-believing Christians of many denominations who believe that the moral
decline in our nation can only be reversed by a knowledge of our duties and responsibilities
as God's Servant People. This will lead to a return to faith in Christ and obedience to the
Divine precepts outlined in the Word of God. For more information about us, see our websites
listed on the links page...
Introduction: The Lost Sheep of the House of Israel
The Bible clearly states that God’s Purpose for mankind is to be achieved through the
instrumentality of a servant nation called Israel (Isa. 49:3). Nevertheless, Israel of old proved
unfaithful, was exiled from Canaan and disappeared from the pages of history about 600 B.C.
(2 Ki. 17), except for a small remnant called Jews. As a result, many Christians assume that
Israel no longer figures in God’s Plan, and that the Divine Purpose is now to be fulfilled
through the Christian Church.
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Yet this assumption ignores God’s solemn promises recorded in the Old Testament,
many of them made long after Israel disappeared. In addition, it overlooks the significance
of many of our Lords’s own statements. Thus, in rebuking the woman of Canaan for asking
His help in terms which falsely implied that she was an Israelite, He said: “I am not sent but
unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt. 15:24)
This carries us back to the 34th chapter of Ezekiel where the prophet, writing after
Israel’s disappearance, likens them to a flock of sheep whose false shepherds (political and
religious leaders) have allowed them to become scattered and lost. Here, too, he records
God’s promise that He Himself would come to seek and restore these lost sheep.
Obviously then, our Lord’s statement that He was “not sent but unto the lost sheep of
the house of Israel” not only proves that the Israel people were still in existence in His day
but further that He had come to restore them to God’s favor and function. The prophecies
clearly show that it is through Israel that God’s Purposes will be accomplished.
Yet to say that He was referring to the Jews of Palestine is illogical, for the Jews were
not lost, they were all about Him. Further, they were not of the House of Israel but of the
House of Judah. Originally Israel had consisted of twelve families or tribes, but following
the death of King Solomon ten tribes rebelled against the rule of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam,
with the result that the Israel people were split into TWO separate and distinct nations, the
House and Kingdom of ISRAEL (10 tribes), and the House and Kingdom of JUDAH (2
tribes). This story is found in First Kings chapter 12.
Eventually both of these nations were conquered by enemies who carried their people
away into captivity in distant lands, from which only a small remnant of the House of Judah
returned (Ezra 3:8; 9:8; Neh. 1:3). It is from this remnant of Judah that the Jews of our Lord’s
day were descended. This returned remnant of Judah was neither lost nor descended from the
House of Israel, and could not therefore have been the “lost sheep of the House of Israel” to
which He referred.
It is important to understand that the generic term, “Israel,” or “Israelite,” referred to

any or all of the twelve tribes; however, the explicit term, “House of Israel,” specifically
referred to the separate kingdom of the Ten Tribes. With that being clear, let us now look at
our Saviour’s command to His disciples when sending them forth to proclaim the Gospel of
the Kingdom: “Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter
ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying,
The kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 10:5-7)
Here again we have proof that the Israel people were still in existence in our Lord’s
day, for surely He would not have sent His disciples to a people who no longer existed.
Further, His Words clearly show that the ten-tribe “House of Israel” still had a vital part to
play in the fulfillment of God’s Purpose. These twelve disciples were not sent to the House
of Israel to proclaim that the kingdom of God could not be restored to them!
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Christ was pointedly reminding them that the responsibility for demonstrating and
extending the righteousness of that kingdom was theirs, and called upon them to accept it.
The fact that we still await the second coming of Christ to physically take that ideal kingdom
does not prove that Israel is non-existent but only that by following false shepherds she has
failed to heed and implement the call.
Thus, those Christians who say that Israel no longer exists and that God’s Purpose for
mankind is to be fulfilled through the Christian Church, or through unbelieving Jewry, not
only deny their Lord’s own words but hinder the coming of the kingdom.
Proofs That the Missing Tribe of Dan migrated to Europe
Did God Cast Off His People Israel?
“God has not repudiated his People, his predestined People!" (Romans 11:2, Moffatt)
Did God Cast Off His People? Many people today have been led to believe that the
Old Testament, along with its central story of God's servant nation Israel, has been
completely replaced by Christ and the New Testament. They reason that because the New
Testament emphasizes the place and work of the Church, God gave up the idea of working
out His Purpose for mankind through a chosen people; that he cast them away and has
replaced them with a Spiritual people only, the Christian denominations of the world.
Apparently, St. Paul found this idea prevalent in his day among the Christians in
Rome for he writes at some length to warn them against such an assumption. Note the
question and his emphatic reply: "Then, I ask, has God repudiated his People? Never! Why,
I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin! God
has not repudiated his People, his predestined People!" (Romans 11:1-2, Moffatt)
The Apostle then warns these Gentile Christians against becoming conceited and
boasting that they have replaced Israel for, he says, though the Israel people were sent away
in exile, they are to be restored when they turn from their unbelief. he likens this unbelief to
a blindness that has come upon them: "For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant
of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened
to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is
written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from
Jacob." (Romans 11:25-26, KJV)
This whole chapter is an explanation of the true place of Gentile Christians in relation
to Israel, and in it St. Paul states most emphatically that God has not cast Israel away. True,
because of unbelief, they became blind to their identity and responsibility, and were
sentenced to a long term of exile and correction, but this blindness is only temporary and
when it is removed Israel will be restored to her place as the instrument of God's Purpose
among men.
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That God had not cast Israel away is evident from the statement made by our Lord
Himself to the woman of Canaan: "I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the House of
Israel." (Matthew 15:24) In connection with this statement we should also note the directions
He gave to His disciples concerning the proclamation of the Gospel of the Kingdom: "These
twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the way of the Gentiles,
and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: But go rather to the lost sheep of the house
of Israel. And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Matthew 10:5-
7)
If Israel had ceased to be, if God had cast off the people He had chosen, if Jesus came
to organize a Church as a substitute for Israel, then why did He say that He was sent to Israel
and why did He send His disciples to Israel and to Israel only, with the good news of His
Kingdom?
He could not have been referring to the Jews for they were not lost, and in addition
they were of the House of Judah, not of the House of Israel. In themselves, therefore, these
two statements are proof that the Israel people were still in existence in our Lord's day and
still had a part to play in the working out of His Great Purpose.
Further, we should not overlook our Lord's statement to the Jews when they refused
to meet the conditions necessary for the setting up of His Kingdom among them: "Therefore
say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing
forth the fruits thereof." (Matthew 21:43) From this we see that our Lord's Kingdom is to be
set up in a nation not a Church; and, once this is recognized it becomes evident that this
nation is "the lost sheep of the House of Israel" to whom He had sent the Gospel (good news)
of the Kingdom.
Finally, there is the promise to Mary concerning Jesus: "He shall be great, and shall
be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father
David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall
be no end." (Luke 1:32-33)
Here we have absolute proof that Israel and the Throne of David were still in existence
in our Lord's day, and that they are yet to form the physical basis of His Kingdom.
Is it true, then, that God cast off His people Israel and that they have no further part
in the working out of His Will and Purpose among men?
"No!" says St. Paul: "God hath not cast away His people."
British-Israel in Brief: What It Is and What It Is Not!
No, we do not believe that only the British are Israel! The name, "British-Israel" was
adopted as a play on the Hebrew word for "covenant," which is written in English as "b'rith."
Whether it is perfect modern Hebrew or not, the name distinctly points up the fact that
elements of exiled ancient Israel did indeed migrate westward into Europe as far as Britain
and beyond; in fact, the Abrahamic Covenant foretold, "And thy seed shall be as the dust of
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the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to
the south..." (Genesis 28:14) How ironic that our critics deny any westward migration for
lost exiled Israel, while the Abrahamic Covenant lists "west" first in the prophecy! Increase
your understanding of God's great plan for Israel with the studies on this website, as well as
items on our Resources Page...
The early Norse Sagas give important evidence of their Biblical origin
Source: http://www.british-israel.com/
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The New Heavens and The New Earth
THE NEW
HEAVENS AND
THE NEW
EARTH
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. The new earth—is a physical place where we will dwell with glorified physical bodies
(1 Corinthians 15:35-58). The concept that heaven is “in the clouds” is unbiblical.
2. The concept that we will be “spirits floating around in heaven” is also unbiblical.
3. The heaven that believers will experience will be a new and perfect planet on which
we will dwell.
4. The new earth will be free from sin, evil, sickness, suffering, and death. It will likely
be similar to our current earth, or perhaps even a re-creation of our current earth, but
without the curse of sin.
5. What about the new heavens? It is important to remember that in the ancient mind,
“heavens” referred to the skies and outer space, as well as the realm in which God
dwells. So, when Revelation 21:1 refers to the new heavens, it is likely indicating that
the entire universe will be created—a new earth, new skies, a new outer space.
Doctrine Defeated.
1. The new heavens and the new earth refer to the eternal home of the righteous, as true
with the verses previously studied in Revelation 21 and elsewhere.
2. The passages in Isaiah (65:17; 66:22) referred in context to the exalted state of the
exiles in Babylon who returned to their homeland and who regarded it as so renewed,
so exalted, so transformed that one would understand it was as if a new heaven and
new earth, the whole of existence, were theirs by virtue of God’s mercy, grace, and
power.
3. The passages in the New Testament (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1) using the same figure,
but with an entirely different dwelling place understood, designate the majesty and
greatness of heaven as would be the case with one who came to know a new heaven
and a new earth.
4. The future heaven and earth for man, an abode for his head and feet, had One dwelling
in it who will never be in this earth again (I Thess. 4:17).
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True
TRUE
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NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH
(William Woodson)
Two verses in the writings of Isaiah serve as a title of this study: For, behold, I create
new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
(Isa. 65:17). For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before
me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. (Isa. 66:22). [All scripture
references are from the King James Version unless otherwise noted.] The meaning of “new
heavens and a new earth,” and parallels elsewhere, is the object of this study. Several
exegetical considerations are to be observed in determining the meaning of these words.
THE THOUGHT OF “DOUBLE MEANING.”
A continuing discussion concerns whether a verse in the Old Testament has (1) a
specific meaning for the people living at the time of the writing, and that meaning only
[single meaning]; or (2) whether in addition to the meaning present in the Old Testament
text as understood [in or to whatever degree of fullness and certitude] by grammatical and
historical analysis there is also a meaning that God intended to be understood which,
although not necessarily understood by the original readers or, for that matter, even by the
inspired writer himself [double meaning], is taught in New Testament usage of the words or
verse(s). Consider the words of Caiphas: “Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is
expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perishes
not” (John 11:49-50). His words were explained by John: “And thus spake he not of himself:
but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; And not
for that nation only, but that also he should gather in one the children of God that were
scattered abroad” (John 11:51-52).
Clearly Caiaphas was not a prophet as was Amos or Jeremiah, but John stated by
inspiration that (1) “he prophesied that Jesus would die for that nation” and (2) “that also he
should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.” The summary
of Raju D. Kunjummen gives the thought most carefully:
The crux of the problem in this passage may be analyzed. God spoke through the high
priest a prophetic word concerning Christ. The high priest was a wicked man and intended
evil by his words.
But God had a different intention through that prophecy so that John was able to
discern the message of substitutionary atonement. It is not simply a matter of distinguishing
meaning from significance that is involved here. It is, rather, a matter of multiple (two)
meanings. (90) This thought of the term “double meaning” in this study is that a specific
verse (or verses) in the Old Testament which had a meaning for the reader(s) in the day of
the inspired writer could be and was, as shown by New Testament quotation(s), such that
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God could and did use the verse or verses in a way or ways that were not clearly known, if
known at all, by the Old Testament writer and readers. The relevance of this double meaning
aspect of various prophetic statements will become more evident as we proceed.
QUOTATIONS FROM ISAIAH IN THE NEW TESTAMENT.
As one considers the meaning of “new heavens and a new earth” the context of these
needs careful consideration. In chapters 59-65 it quickly becomes evident God through Isaiah
rebukes sinful Israel, yearns for the repentance and return of the nation to God, knows of her
anguish in captivity, and in his mercy, will return the nation to the cherished land, restore the
city of Jerusalem with the temple, and make the temple holy again.
A sample of such declarations must suffice: “iniquities” have separated Israel from
God, his face is hidden that he will not hear (50:1-2); sins such as defilement with blood,
lips that speak lies, none calling for justice, their trust is in vanities, mischief is conceived
and brings forth iniquity (59:1-4); darkness will cover the earth, God’s wrath has smitten the
nation (60:2, 10); the day of the vengeance has come, old wastes, waste cities, and desolation
of many generations are present (61:2, 4); as in a winepress God has trodden on the nation
and trampled them in his fury so that his garments are sprinkled with blood and are stained;
and a day of vengeance is present, the people will be made drunk with the fury of the Lord,
and their strength will be brought down (63:3, 4, 6); the nation is an unclean thing, their
righteousness as filthy rags, they will fade as a leaf, and will be taken away like the wind
(64:6); God has spread his hands to the rebellious nation, it walks in a way that is not good,
it provokes God to anger, it eats swine’s flesh and broth of abominable things (65:4). The
nation has sinned grievously and is to be and is being punished. The captivity in Babylon is
the result.
God, nevertheless, promises deliverance to the people and return from Babylon. (1)
God said: “Behold, the days come, that all that is in thine house, and that which thy fathers
have laid up in store until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left, saith the
LORD.” (Isa. 39:6) (2) He also said: “Go ye forth of Babylon, flee ye from the Chaldeans,
with a voice of singing declare ye, tell this, utter it even to the end of the earth; say ye, The
LORD hath redeemed his servant Jacob.” (Isa. 48:20)
The captivity was the result of Israel’s sins, many of which Isaiah had rebuked most
forcefully—as noted before. The return, also envisioned by the prophet as the Lord revealed,
is certain because of the Lord’s love of his people. In the context of the verses being studied,
numerous references to the return of Israel are to be noted—a sample of which we consider.
The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those who turn from transgression in Jacob (50:20); in
his wrath God had smitten the nation, but in his favor he had mercy on them (60:10); the
Lord is the savior, the redeemer, the mighty one of Jacob (60:16); in the restoration the walls
of the city will be called Salvation and the gates Praise (60:18); the sun will not give light by
day, the moon will not give light by night, since the Lord will be the everlasting light, and
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the days of their mourning shall be ended (60:19-20); for the sake of Zion, and of Jerusalem,
God will not hold his peace and will not rest until righteousness goes forth from Israel and
salvation burns as a lamb (62:2); the Lord has proclaimed he will have no rest until Jerusalem
is a praise in the earth (62:7).
The daughter of Zion is told “behold, thy salvation cometh,” (62:11); in days of old,
God was the savior of his people, the angel of his presence saved them, he brought them out
of the [Red] Sea with Moses, the shepherd of his flock (63:12); and in captivity the nation
cried, although Abraham might be ignorant of them, and Israel might not acknowledge them;
the Lord is their Father and Redeemer, and he is asked to return the tribes of his inheritance
(63:16, 17). The nation pleads, Be not wroth very sore, O LORD, neither remember iniquity
forever: behold, see we beseech thee, we are all thy people. Thy holy cities are a wilderness,
Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. …Wilt thou refrain thyself for these things, O
LORD? Wilt thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very sore? (Isa. 64:9-10, 12) In answer to the
cries of his people, God said: And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an
inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there.
And Sharon shall be a fold of flocks, and the valley of Achor a place for the herds to lie down
in, for my people have sought me. (Isa. 65:9-10) Indeed, he declared, that he who blesseth
himself in the earth shall bless himself in the God of truth; and he that sweareth in the earth
shall swear by the God of truth; because the former troubles are forgotten, and because they
are hid from mine eyes. (Isa. 65:16)
It is within this context that the words being studied are to be understood. The
expression “new heavens and a new earth” is one of many expressions referring to the result
of God’s restoration of Israel to the land from which they had been carried because of the
sins of that generation before the coming of destruction. Now, in this figurative, picturesque
statement, God describes the joy and happiness of those who return from captivity in Babylon
as being as it would be with those who dwell in a new heaven and a new earth. In thought,
the returned exiles will look with new eyes on the old land that is, upon their return, a “new”
land they had, in a sense, never known before.
The next verse containing similar words extends and completes this portrayal of
Israel’s blessings in their restoration to the land:
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,
saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass,
that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh
come to worship before me, saith the LORD. (Isa. 66:22-23)
The New Testament use of the same words, Nevertheless we, according to his
promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. (2
Pet. 3:13) And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first
earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (2 Pet. 1:13)
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These two verses contain the same words as were used in the writings of Isaiah, but
surely no one would claim they refer to the return of Israel from Babylonian captivity as
noted above. The passage in Revelation 21:1 is most certainly a reference to heaven, the
eternal home of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and redeemed. Revelation 21:2 uses a
different picture to convey the same thought: “the holy city, new Jerusalem” comes from
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; Revelation 21:3 uses another figure:
“the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them: to extend the same thought;
Revelation 21:9 refers to the “bride, the Lamb’s wife,” and v. 10 refers to “the holy Jerusalem
descending out of heaven from God.” Clearly, the reference is not the national Israel
returning to a restored Jerusalem.
The phrase “a new heaven and a new earth” designates the eternal dwelling place of
the redeemed under a figure indicating the new, fresh, previously unrealized majesty and
greatness of the place Jesus has prepared for his people. Second Peter 3:13 develops in
thought from the statement earlier that those who make their calling and election sure will
receive “an entrance… abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus
Christ” (2 Pet. 1:11). The second coming will be as a thief; the present heavens will pass
away; the earth and the elements therein will be burned up (2 Pet. 3:10). The new heavens
and the new earth refer to the eternal home of the righteous, as true with the verses previously
studied in Revelation 21 and elsewhere.
CONCLUSION
The passages in Isaiah (65:17; 66:22) referred in context to the exalted state of the
exiles in Babylon who returned to their homeland and who regarded it as so renewed, so
exalted, so transformed that one would understand it was as if a new heaven and new earth,
the whole of existence, were theirs by virtue of God’s mercy, grace, and power.
The passages in the New Testament (2 Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1) using the same figure,
but with an entirely different dwelling place understood, designate the majesty and greatness
of heaven as would be the case with one who came to know a new heaven and a new earth.
The double meaning of these similar expressions in the Old Testament and the New
Testament, in context, are clear and easily understood when studied in detail and depth.
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “A Light to the Nations: Judgment and Hope in
Isaiah” - 2005, William Woodson: New heaven and new earth. Pages 439-444.
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THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH
(Charles Coil)
Much concern prevails today because of the destruction of environment and the
depletion of natural resources. The expression new heavens and new earth suggests an abode
that is fresh in contrast to one that is worn out. Surely, all will be interested in what the Bible
has to say about a new dwelling place for the redeemed of the earth.
l. FOUR PASSAGES OF SCRIPTURE NAME THE SUBJECT OF NEW HEAVENS

AND NEW EARTH.
(1) Isaiah 65:17: "For, behold, 1 create new heavens a n d a new earth: and the former
shall not be remembered, nor come into mind." (2) Isaiah 66:22: "For as the new heavens
and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your
seed and your name remains." (3) 11 Peter 3: 13: "Nevertheless we, according to his promise,
look for new heavens a n d a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." (4) Revelation 21:
1: "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away; and there was no more sea."
The above passages are the only references in the Bible to new heavens and new earth.
The passage in Revelation 2 1 uses the singular form of "heaven" instead of the plural
heavens. There are other passages that seem to allude to new heavens and new earth, or at
least to throw light upon the subject. These are generally thought to be Matthew 1 9: 2 8,
John 1 4:2-3, Romans 8:18-22, and Hebrews 12:26-29. Certainly, the context of 2 Peter 3:13
includes all the verses from verse 3 through verse 13.
II. WHEN WILL THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH APPEAR?
(1) First, it is obvious that the above passages refer to eschatological or end time
events. If God creates new heavens and the old heavens are not remembered (Isa. 65:17),
then it is clearly an occurrence at the end of the old, or present, order. Peter declares that the
old order of things “shall pass away,” “melt,” be “burned up,” and “dissolved” (11 Pet.
3:1011). John says the first heaven and first earth were “passed away” (Rev. 21 :1).
(2) The above events occur at the coming of Christ. Peter says that in the last days
scoffers will come with the question “where is the promise Of his coming (11 Pet. 3:4). The
subject under consideration then is the coming of Christ. In verse 9 he assures his readers
that God is not slack concerning his promise. Then in the next verse: “But the day of the Lord
will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise…” (II Pet. 3:10) and he proceeds to detail the melting, burning up and dissolving of
the material universe.
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(3) Such events cannot be made to fit the premillennial time table and theory.
Premillennialists hold the view that human beings, along with the earth and its cities and
boundaries survive the second coming and endure throughout a supposed thousand-year
earthly reign. For example, Ezekiel 47 describes much of the earth supposedly after the return
of Jesus. Human beings go about their tasks and cities, rivers and national boundaries remain
untouched!
To explain this, they theorize a light “brush fire” sort of burning that leaves everything
pretty much intact. To justify this and confuse the issue they cite the textual problem in [I
Peter 3:10. According to Jehovah’s Witnesses and other premillennial the problem is to
determine whether the text says, “burned up” (katakansetai) 0r “discovered” (hurethasetai).
The Textus Receptus and Codex Alexandrinus has the former reading while Vaticanus and
Sinaiticus has the latter. Thus, premillennialists think to find textual justification for their
views of cleansing but not really destructive fire.
However, the problem is fanciful. First, the major committee translations (King
James, American Standard and Revised Standard) all translate “burned up.” Secondly, even
if the alternate reading is correct it cannot and does not change the context. in other words, it
must still be translated to “make sense” and the simplest explanation is to make of it a
rhetorical question. In other words (supposing the variant) it would read “the earth, also, and
the works that are therein shall they be found”? The answer is obvious that they will not be
“found” or “discovered” because they are “melted." “dissolved,” and passed away. Thus, the
reading is similar to Revelation 20:11 where it is expressly stated that “there was found no
place for them." Thirdly, the context is too clear to admit of misunderstanding, regardless
of any textual difficulty. The old heavens pass and the new ones appear al the second coming.
(See above). The old ones will not be remembered not come into mind (Isa. 65:17). The new
ones will remain (Isa. 66:22) implying that the old heavens and earth did not. The old ones
shall pass away, melt, be dissolved (II Pet. 3:10-11).
The old ones flee away and no place is found for them (Rev. 20:11). The first ones
pass away (Rev. 21 :1). Thus, the context is too clear. The material universe as we know it
will pass away. No cities and boundaries could possibly remain and certainly no living
creature would be able to survive. Since the premillennial theory holds that Christ will come
again and reign on this earth it is obviously false. When he comes again this earth will burn
up. A new one will be created (Isa. 65:17). He cannot reign over an earth that is gone and
their theory does not envision a reign over one that is new.
III. THE RIGHTEOUS WILL DWELL WITH GOD IN HEAVEN AND THE NEW
HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH ARE A PART OF THAT ETERNAL
DWELLING PLACE
(1) It is obvious that the redeemed will one day go to heaven and dwell with God.
Jesus said: “In my father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so I would have told you.
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I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again to
receive you unto myself that where I am there ye may be also” (Jn. 1412-3). Where did Jesus
go and where is the dwelling place of God? The Bible says that he returned to heaven (Mark
16:19, Acts 1:11). God is addressed as “in heaven” (Lk. 11:2). When Jesus comes again he
will descend from heaven (I Thess. 4:16). Therefore, it is clear and indisputable that the
eternal home of the soul will be with God in heaven.
(2) It is not clear how the new heavens and new earth fit into the place called heaven
where God dwells. In other words, the Bible does not draw a verbal map. In the Revelation
passage that mentions the new heaven and new earth, John declared in the next verse that he
saw “the holy city. new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven” (Rev. 21:2). In
the very next verse John declared that the tabernacle of God was with men and God would
dwell with them and be their God (Rev. 21:3). Is the new heaven and new earth to be
identified with the holy city let down out of heaven? Is this the future dwelling place of the
redeemed where God will dwell with man? This seems to be the meaning and intent of the
passage. Then why is it spoken of as “coming down from God out of heaven”? One logical
answer is that it was let down in order that John might see it and write about it for us.
(3) There is other evidence that the new heavens and new earth are intended to
describe the fixture dwelling place of the redeemed. For example, the old heavens and earth
are obviously the dwelling place of humanity. It would not be illogical, or contrary to reason
or evidence to suppose that the new heavens and new earth would be so used in the future.
Isaiah declared that the new heavens and new earth shall “remain before me, saith the Lord,
so shall your seed and your name remain” (Isaiah 66:22).
The remaining of the one is co-extensive of the remaining of the other. The place and
the people are linked in time and context. This infers that the people will remain and dwell
on the new earth. Peter seems to allude to the Isaiah passages when he reminds us that God
has promised “new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness” (II Pet. 3:13).
Since righteousness is doing the commandments of God (Psalms 119:172) it seems

logical to conclude that the righteous who have been redeemed by blood will dwell in the
new heavens and earth and do the will of God. Jesus declared that he would “prepare” a place
for us (Jn. 14:2). This seems to harmonize with the idea of a “new” world order possibly now
in preparation that will one day take the place of the old. In summation, one can say with
certainty that the redeemed will one day dwell with God in his home in heaven. There is good
evidence that the new heavens and new earth will be a part of that eternal arrangement.
IV. A BEAUTIFUL HOME
(1) The new heavens and new earth are described in terms of matchless beauty. They
are described as a place where God wipes away our tears and sorrow, death, crying and pain
will never come again. There will be no sin, no night and no sea there.
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It is described as a place where jewels decorate the walls of the city, where the gates
of pearl are never closed and the city itself is pure gold (Rev. 21:18). Millions have seen and
been made speechless by the overwhelming beauty and the scintillating radiance of the crown
jewels of England. However, these will seem as worthless trinkets in the new Jerusalem
where the whole city is made of gold. There is a special beauty that inheres in the glory and
honor of nations. Surely all have thrilled at the pomp, pageantry and glory when a great nation
puts her military forces on parade and the flags and the bands go marching by. Far more
thrilling is the thought of brave and sacrificial deeds done on fields of battle to save a nation
from defeat and slavery. Whatever the glory of nations, the Bible says, “and they shall bring
the glory and honor of nations 1nto it” (Rev 21: 26). Most beautiful of all will be the sight
of the redeemed who will walk there and the face of God and Jesus that will be seen there
(Rev. 22: 4).
(2) The new Jerusalem will be beautiful in service. Few things in life are more
beautiful than devoted, unselfish service. One thinks of men like George Washington, Nathan
Hale and Abraham Lincoln or Moses, Jeremiah, and Paul. What will it be like in heaven?
Jesus says simply “and his servants shall serve him” (Rev. 22:3).
(3) The new Jerusalem Will be beautiful in permanence. Human hearts long for a
permanent dwelling place. Sad experience soon teaches that earth this present earth -holds
no such treasure. Our bodies wear out. Our earthly home is also wearing out and running
down. Our oil is rapidly being depleted. Our forests are being devastated. The water table is
diminishing and our streams filling with wastes. Our houses fall into decay and are burned
down. However, the soul never dies and the new heavens and the new earth “remain” (Isa.
66:22). The righteous go into life eternal (Mt. 25:46). Paul declared that we would “ever be
with the Lord” (I Thess. 4:17). It is the conviction of this writer that the home being prepared,
promised by Jesus (Jn. 14:2), is new heavens and earth. The King James version seems to
promise an elegant house but the basic word means abide. The same word is used in Heb. 7:3
where the Holy Spirit declares that Melchizedek “abideth a priest continually.” Therefore,
the idea is not an elegant mansion but rather a secure, permanent home.
CONCLUSION
The Bible tells of new heavens and new earth where the righteous are sending their
treasure. Many of our loved ones have already gone there. It tells of a golden city in a land
of fadeless day. Jesus is preparing for you a beautiful, permanent home in that bright
promised land. To go there you must be one of God’s children. If you are not a child of God
you ought to be born again of water and the Spirit and get ready for that journey.
“Premillennialism True or False?” Charles Coil: The New Heaven and The New Earth. Pages
40-45.
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THE NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH
(Keith A. Mosher, Sr.)
The beloved apostle Peter wrote: “Nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look
for new heavens, and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (II Peter 3:13). Isaiah
recorded a promise from God that incorporated a like phrase (Isa. 65:17; 66:22). And, at the
end of Holy Writ, the apostle John was privileged to see a “new heaven and a new earth”
(Rev. 21:1). Did Peter look for that which John saw? Was Isaiah’s prophecy related to that
of the apostles? What are the “new heavens and new earth?” A brief exegesis of 11 Peter
321-13 will aid us in reaching some conclusions in this matter. Isaiah’s prophecy, John’s
vision, and some false views of this topic will be discussed.
Prophecy for Pure Minds
This second epistle, beloved. I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure
minds by way of remembrance: That you may be mindful of the words which were
spoken by the holy prophets, and of the commandments of us the apostles of the Lord
and Saviour (II Peter 321,2).
For the purposes of this study, we want to note one very important point here. Nothing
that Peter will teach in the following verses will be contrary to that which Jesus, any other
apostle, or the Old Testament prophets taught. Those whose minds have been made pure by
contact with truth will accept this fact (I John 4:6).
Prologue on scoffers and God’s promises
Knowing this hrst, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their
own lusts, and saying where is the promise of his coming: for since the fathers fell asleep, all
things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they are willingly
ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of
the water and in the water; Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water
perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store,
reserved unto lire against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men (11 Peter 323-
7).
The “last days” is the period from the day of Pentecost until the end of time (Acts
2:16; Heb. 1:1,2). The last day (singular) is that moment when Jesus actually comes (11 Peter
3:10). There is no sign of his coming (Matt. 24:36-41), but he comes as a thief -unannounced.
Evolutionists today rely on the doctrine of uniformitarianism to bolster their theories.
They say that the world is in exactly the same shape that it was when it first evolved, just
older. But. Peter says there was a world before the flood, but it perished. Perished is apollumi,
and means to be destroyed, lost. ruined. Humans live in a totally different world now from
the one before the flood. Evolutionists ignore this evidence.
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Peter further states that the “heavens and the earth which are now” will last until
judgement day. Heavens (ouranos) is plural here and has reference to the atmosphere plus
the abode of the stars, moons, and planets. This word is used 284 times in the New Testament,
and 94 times it is plural.2 The Old Testament equivalent is shammayim, which is used often
to refer to the firmament (Job 26:11; Ps. 115: 15-17 et a1) as well as the place where God
dwells (Isa. 6:5; Ps. 29:10; 104:3 et al). (Although shammayim is a plural word in Hebrew,
this is a peculiarity of the language and not an indication of number. Only the context can
determine its usage.)
The heavens that are reserved unto fire cannot include the place where God dwells.
The ones reserved for destruction were created with the earth (11 Peter 3:5). The fire (pur)
nonjudgement will consume the heavens and the earth.4 Our God is a consuming fire (Heb.
10:27; 12:29). He has the authority, power, and right to deal with his creation (Heb. 1:3).
Note that this fire is from God, not man.
The word earth here is ge, and has several New Testament usages.5 It can mean land,
in the geographical sense (Matt. 9226,31). It is used to refer to the land of promise (Acts 7:3)
and thus, eschatologically, to the land of the Messianic promise (Heb. 11:9; Ps. 37:11). It is
the inhabited earth (Acts 17:26) and the theater of man’s history (Matt. 23:35). Ge is
paralleled with kosmos (Matt. 5:13) and so it can be concluded that the visible earth awaits
a fiery judgment.
Since only God’s judgement will end the universe (one he alone created through the
execution of the Word and the Spirit, John 1:1-5; Job 26:13) can we not safely conclude that
man will not be allowed to destroy it, no matter how large he manufactures his weapons?
Despite the fanciful predictions of the end-time theorists, God has control (Heb. 1:3). Pope
Paul VI has been quoted as saying: “A war would be an irreversible and fatal occurrence. It
would not be the end of difficulties. but the end of civilization.”6 How does the Pope know
this? Shall we fear the atom or trust in God? The Father has reserved this universe until his
time of judgement. He ordered the first earth to perish, therefore he will be the causality of
the end of the second earth, “by the word of God” (II Peter 3:5). Surely Christians can gain
some peace of mind from trusting the One who controls all.
The earth will be here when Jesus comes. Man will still be living (I Thess. 4:13-18).
Every eye will see him (Rev. 1:7). Those who write imaginative books about some “atomic
Armageddon" have to manufacture their literary efforts as a science fiction writer might.
Pertinent Answers to the Proud
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a
thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning his
promise as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any
should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a
thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the
elements shall melt with a fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be
burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought
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ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of
the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat (11 Peter 3:8-12).
Two of the problems that man has concerning the destiny of the heavens and the earth
are ignorance of time as measured by God, and ignorance of just what Peter refers to in verse
8.
Measuring the 24 hour day of Genesis 1:5 as 1000 years, some have concluded that
we now live in the “6th day of time" and at the end of this millennium the “Lord of the
Sabbath” (Matt. 12:8) will reign for 1000 years (Rev. 20:6). 11 Peter 3:8 is quoted as
authority for this assumption.7 These sectarians even go so far as to set an end time by
fancifully reckoning that each day of creation represents 7,000 years since the seventh “day”
is seven millenniums in length. (This is derived at by assuming that a sabbath of days is
meant.) Therefore, earth was prepared for 42,000 years before man’s creation, and the earth
was to last (until perfected) just 49,000 years.8
A major defect of such a position is that God said the days were night and day periods
(Gen. 1:5). This is 24 hours. To try to lengthen the time of the days results in problems for
plant growth and the sustaining of animal life. Further-Peter is answering the scoffers of
verse three of the text. He is not defining the last day.
Anyone who tries to find the end of time runs afoul of Matthew 24:35,36. No man
knows the time, and God has never said it. Too, the reasoning that each day represents 7000
years, because the 7th day is a sabbath of 7000 years is circular and unfounded. Man said the
seventh day was 7000, not God. Shall we thus conclude that the fiood prevailed for 1,050,000
years instead of 150 days (Gen. 7:24)? Who can be so foolish as not to see that 11 Peter 3:8
is a figurative statement to show that time is not a factor for the Father. Peter’s argument in
verse 9 completely topples if verse 8 is a definition of the “last days” instead of an answer to
the scoffers. “God is coming,” Peter is arguing, “But you scoffers need to know that he does
not count time the way you do. He is delaying to give men a chance to repent. Indifference
is not God’s problem" (II Peter 328,9 paraphrased -K.M.).
God intends to destroy all of the universe (11 Peter 3:10), at his Son’s coming
(parousia-II Peter 3:4). For simplification of the study of 11 Peter 3:10, let us list some
pertinent points:
1. Those who are referred to as “scoffers” have not denied the second coming. They
have wondered why it is delayed (11 Peter 3:4).
2. They are “willingly ignorant" of God’s Word and his power (11 Peter 3:5). The
parousia of verse four is the word that premillennialists savor ‘ as the “rapture.”
It should be noted by every reader that at this “rapture" all the universe will be
destroyed! To escape the obvious conclusion of this text, those who will deal with
it at all, deal with it in a less than honest fashion. Their view is that God is simply
refining this universe for habitation either during9 or after10 the 1000 years of the
reign of Christ on earth. ,
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3. The view of some premillennialists, then, is that God will recreate this universe.
God will simply “burn out the demons and all evil” from the present world.”
4. Others argue that during the 1000 year reign (supposed) of Christ on earth, the
righteous priests (144,000) will instruct all others in righteousness, and at the end
God will destroy any wicked who are left, and purify the earth for habitation
forever.
5. The words of verse ten will not allow for the existence of any “refined" universe
after the second coming. Premillennial advocates try to say that “pass away"
means transition, not extinction. 12 These exegetes (‘3) use the word dissolve of
verse twelve which is apekomai (to depart, to be gone, to leave)13 to say that the
earth will just be liberated. Why do they not use the word of verse ten? It is
pareleusontai (to come to an end, to disappear.)M Obviously if the heavens of
verse ten have come to an end, Peter can say in verse twelve that they have
departed.
6. The next phrase, stoixeia de kausoumena luthesetai (the elements shall melt with
fervent heat) literally means that the basics of everything will be so consumed by
heat as to be destroyed.15 Trying to avoid this thrust, the premillennialists say
that the base word [no means only to loose or liberate. But, it also means to
destroy, and is so used here.
7. To nail down his point, Peter says every work on earth and the heavens “shall be
burned up.” (eutethesatai, from katakaio~-t0 consume with fire.)17
8. Some who are not premillennialists, could not overcome the idea of science that
matter is neither created not destroyed, so they viewed the old earth as refined and
recreated so that the redeemed could visit it once in a while. [This is mere
speculation of course. The God who created matter (Gen. 1:1) can certainly
destroy it.]
9. Note also that the word dissolved of verse eleven is the same word in Ephesians
2:14 to indicate the breaking down of the Old Law. That law is gone. It no longer
exists. If it does, we are fallen from grace (Gal. 5:4).
10. It seems that the Holy Spirit anticipated in verse twelve that some would try to
see verse ten as only a fire of refining rather than destruction. The heavens “being
on fire" shall “be dissolved.”
11. Since this world is destined for destruction, how should Christians live? How do
we really live?
12. Friend, that house, car, job, and fishing boat you love so well-is destined for total
annihilation. Why not view your life somewhat differently from now on?
Peering Into a Future Existence
Nevertheless, we according to his promise. look for new heavens and a new earth,
wherein dwelleth righteousness" (11 Peter 3:13)
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A large sect claiming to have direct contact with Jehovah (as his witnesses) has
written: “A NEW (sic) earth! What can it mean? The burning up of our present planet and its
replacement by a new globe? No, not that; for the sure Word of God declares: ‘The earth
abideth forever.’
Another group has declared: . . Since God’s covenant with Abraham cannot be
broken, there must be an eternal earth in which the seed of Abraham can dwell according to
God’s covenant. Israel will dwell on the new earth . . .”20 The problem of both views is that
the study herein has already shown that this present heaven(s) and earth will not be available
for habitation by any person at the end of this present age.” Too, the land promised to Israel
has been fulfilled (Josh. 21:45; 23:14).
What promise of God’s was Peter referring to when he wrote the text “Nevertheless,
we, according to his promise . . .”? Some have concluded that this has reference to the
statements of Isaiah (Isa. 65:17; 66:22).22 It is possible that Isaiah had reference to Peter's
usage, but the immediate context of Isaiah’s message seems to point to some new heavens
and new earth before the end of time.
For example, the Jews and Gentiles are to be a part of this new place (Isa. 65:12), and
when they are they will be called by a new name (Isa. 65:18). People will still die in this
place and still reap what they sow (Isa. 65:20). The place is God’s holy mountain (Isa. 65:25).
This was described in Isaiah 2: 1-4 as the church age. The same understanding appears to
emerge in Isaiah 66. Note that delusions will find their way into this new heaven and new
earth (Isa. 6624,22; cf. II Thess. 2:1 1,12). A virgin birth will begin the age (Isa. 6627-9), and
the Gentiles will be comforted in it (Isa. 66:12-18; cf. Acts 10;15). The resurrection will be
a sign of its beginning (Isa. 66:19; cf. John 12:32). The Gentiles will give offerings and
become priests (Isa. 6620,21; cf. I Cor. 16:12; I Peter 225-9). The vision of Isaiah is likely
pointing to the church age. Note that Isaiah uses the phrase “new heavens and the new earth
“figuratively to refer to a place where all men can worship God.
It is possible that a connection does exist between Isaiah’s prophecy and Peter’s
statement. If we take into account John’s vision in Revelation 21:1-7, a parallel is seen. John
writes:
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were
passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw that holy city. New
Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband" (Rev. 21:12).
The “new heaven and new earth” of John’s vision is the place for the prepared city to
dwell. The prepared city is the church, or the Lamb’s bride (Eph. 5:23ff). As Isaiah saw a
new order for those in his day, so John sees a new order for the church beyond the judgement
(Rev. 20:12ff). If John saw a literal new heaven and new earth, why is there no more sea?
(Sea here refers to the mass of humanity, thus paralleling Jesus’ statement that few will find
the way-Matt. 7:13,14.) Isaiah saw the New Testament age beyond the Old Testament. John
and Peter saw the church beyond judgement.
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Man must dwell somewhere, if he is to live at all. When God created the “heavens
and the earth” he made a place for man’s head and feet (Gen. 1:1). The Jews understood the
phrase-heaven and earth-to mean the known world of man’s habitation.23 Isaiah prophesied
of a place for man in a new age (Isa. 65:17). Peter prophesied of a place for man in a new
age “wherein dwelleth righteousness” (II Peter 3:3).
The word new deserves our attention. It is kainos. The Greeks had two words for new-
neos and kainos. Neos has the sense of being young as opposed to being mature, but kainos
refers to that new and distinctive, new in nature, different from, superior in value or
attraction.24 The new that Peter saw was a world “not yet used” (cf. Matt. 9:17 for this
usage). One has written, “kainos is the epitome of the wholly different . . .”25
It is interesting to discover that the new of Isaiah 65:17 is acher and that the septuagint
regularly used kalnos for chadosh in other texts and only here at Isaiah 65:17 do they use
kainos for acher. Acher has the sense of after or later. Whatever Isaiah saw, the translators of
the LXX understood it to be entirely different from the present age.26
Those who insist the earth must last forever like to quote Ps. 78:69 and Eccl. 124.
Note that in the former verse the sanctuary (destroyed forever in AD. 70) was like the earth.
In the latter text, the earth will last “forever" under the sun (Eccl. 1:5). The point of this verse
is that the world lasts longer than man’s life, and relative to the brevity of human existence,
it goes on and on. Jesus pointedly stated that even the earth that abides under the sun will
pass away (Matt. 24:35).
It should forever be noted by all who await the judgement day that John wrote: “And
I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven
fled away; and there was found no place for them” (Rev. 20:11; emphasis mine). The future
heaven and earth for man, an abode for his head and feet, had One dwelling in it who will
never be in this earth again (I Thess. 4:17). It can only be concluded that the “new heavens
and new earth” that Peter looked for is that… city which hath foundations, whose builder and
maker is God” (Heb. 11:10). Peter waited for the promise of heaven. He himself said so (I
Peter 1:3-5).
Peter stated a prophecy for pure minds that answers all the scoffers, the proud, the
ignorant and uninformed. He has given a preview of the world to come that assures the
faithful Christian that there is a place for him to live. God will be there. Dear reader, will
you?
of Last Things.” Keith A. Mosher, Sr.: The New Heavens and New Earth. Pages 142-147.
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THE NEW EARTH
All my life, while growing up in the Church, I was taught that the Redeemed would
live eternally with God in Heaven. One of the most amazing discoveries I made when I started
studying Bible prophecy is that the Redeemed are not going to live forever in Heaven. Rather,
we are going to live on a new earth, and God is going to come down to that earth to live
among us.
The Bible is very clear about this. Read Revelation 21:1-7. The only way you can get
around the conclusion that the Redeemed will live eternally on a new earth is to spiritualize
the new earth to mean Heaven. That is exactly what many Bible interpreters have done, and
there is no justification for it.
John says in Revelation 21:1, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” What happens
is that God burns up the old earth. We’re told in 2 Peter 3, that He will burn away all the
pollution of Satan’s last revolt. He will take this earth and reshape it like a hot ball of wax,
and out of that fiery inferno will come the new heavens and the new earth, an earth that will
be refreshed and beautified and perfected to what God originally created before it was
polluted by sin and changed by the curse (2 Peter 3:10-13). It will probably be greatly
enlarged because it is going to serve as the foundation for a gigantic city — the New
Jerusalem.
Just think of it! As God creates that new earth, we will most likely be suspended in
the heavens inside the New Jerusalem watching the greatest fireworks display in the history
of the cosmos. And when it’s all over, and the earth is refreshed and renewed, then the Lord
will lower us down to the new earth inside the New Jerusalem (21:2). We are going to live
eternally inside that glorious city located on the new earth.
That’s right, the Bible never teaches that we will spend eternity in Heaven. It teaches
that we will spend eternity in new bodies in a New Jerusalem on a new earth, and it further
teaches that God will come down to that new earth and live among us: “I heard a loud voice
from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He shall dwell
among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them'” (21:3).
He’s going to wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there will no longer be any suffering
— no pain, no death, no sorrow (21:4). He is going to make all things new, and we are going
to live in perfect bliss in the New Jerusalem (21:5).
Source: http://christinprophecy.org/articles/the-new-earth/
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WHAT ARE THE NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH?
(Don Stewart)
When humanity sinned against God, the earth was cursed.

And to the man He [God] said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
and have eaten of the tree about which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,'
cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field
(Genesis 3:17,18).
Heaven and Earth Will Perish
The Bible says this cursed earth along with the present heavens will one day perish.
They will perish, but you endure; they will all wear out like a garment. You change
them like clothing, and they pass away (Psalm 102:26).
New Heavens
The prophet Isaiah recorded God promising new heavens and a new earth.
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be
remembered or come to mind (Isaiah 65:17).
The glorious promise of God is that this earth will be made new. This will be a reversal
of the curse of Eden.
Jesus
Jesus spoke of the renewal of all things - the time when all things are made new.
Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of
Man sits on His glorious throne, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve
thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28).
We have the same thing taught in the Book of Acts.

Who [Christ] must remain in heaven until the time of universal restoration that God
announced long ago through His holy prophets (Acts 3:21).
When Will This Happen?
There is some debate among believers as to when this renewal will happen. There are
those who believe the universal restoration will occur when Christ returns and sets up His
Millennial kingdom - the thousand-year reign on the earth.
This view does not equate the renewal that Jesus spoke about with the making of the
new heavens and new earth as was prophesied by Isaiah. This will come after the Millennium.
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All Things New
The Bible says God will make all things new.

And the one who was seated on the throne said, "See, I am making all things new."
Also He said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true" (Revelation 21:5).
The present order of creation will be replaced. In this new order, the only people who
exist will be God's people. They will live in the closest of relationships.
No Part
Those who have not trusted God's promises will not take part.
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, the murderers, the fornicators, the
sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire
and sulfur, which is the second death… But nothing unclean will enter it, nor anyone
who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's
book of life (Revelation 21:8,27).
After Millennium
Scripture also says that this new heaven and a new earth will occur after the thousand year
reign of Christ - the Millennium.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had
passed away, and there was no longer any sea (Revelation 22:1).
The new heavens and earth are different from the period of the Millennium. They will replace
the old cursed creation.
Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the
Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him (Revelation 22:3).
Pass Away
The present heavens, and the present earth will one day pass away. Peter wrote.
But by the same Word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, being
kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the godless. But do not ignore this
one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand
years are like one day. The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some think of
slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to
repentance. But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will
pass away with a loud noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fire, and the
earth and everything that is done on it will be disclosed. Since all these things are to
be dissolved in this way, what sort of persons ought you to be in leading lives of
holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God,
because of which the heavens will be set ablaze and dissolved, and the elements will
melt with fire? But, in accordance with His promise, we wait for new heavens and a
new earth, where righteousness is at home (2 Peter 3:7-13).
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God, therefore will dissolve the old universe and make it new by means of fire. Many
equate the renewal that Jesus spoke about with this event - the making of the new heavens
and the new earth.
Our Hope
The hope of the believer is in an inheritance that will not fade away.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His
abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does
not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through
faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time (1 Peter 1:3-5).
A City
Heaven is called a city.

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not
ashamed to be called their God; indeed, He has prepared a city for them (Hebrews
11:16).
Still to Come
This city is lasting, it will not perish.

For here we have no lasting city, but we are looking for the city that is to come
(Hebrews 13:14).
Not Realm of God
The Bible speaks of three heavens. The first is the atmosphere around the earth, the
second is the sun moon and stars, the third heaven is the presence of God. However, all three
of them will not pass away. The Scripture makes it clear that sin entered only the first and
second heaven, not the realm of God. God's realm was untouched by sin and remains perfect.
The physical universe, however, has to be renewed. Therefore, it is the first and second
heaven that will be changed.
Entirely New or Renewed?
From the passages that speak of the renewal of the heaven and the earth, it is not clear
what relationship the new will have with the old. Will the old heaven and earth be merely
renewed, or will it be entirely replaced. There are passages that seem to teach both. Can both
be true without this being a contradiction? The answer is yes. In some sense, that is beyond
our human understanding, God will remake the old universe by dissolving its elements. The
result will be a new universe without sin and corruption. Although it is new, it will have some
connection with the old. As is the case with the resurrected body of the believer, there is some
mystery in this process. What is clear is that the present heaven and earth will pass away in
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the form that they are presently in and God will make something new for believers to enjoy
with Him.
Summary
When Adam and Eve sinned, the earth became cursed. God promised to destroy the
old earth and make something new. The future home of the believer will be in the new
heavens and new earth. After the final judgment, God will remake the present universe and
form a new one - a universe without any remembrance of sin. Though the exact relationship
between the old and the new is not entirely clear, it is clear that the new universe will be
without sin.
Source: https://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/don_stewart/don_stewart_153.cfm
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WHAT ARE THE NEW HEAVENS AND THE NEW EARTH?
(GotQuestions.org)
Answer: Many people have a misconception of what heaven is truly like. Revelation
chapters 21-22 gives us a detailed picture of the new heavens and the new earth. After the
events of the end times, the current heavens and earth will be done away with and replaced
by the new heavens and new earth. The eternal dwelling place of believers will be the new
earth. The new earth is the “heaven” on which we will spend eternity. It is the new earth
where the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city, will be located. It is on the new earth that the
pearly gates and streets of gold will be.
Heaven—the new earth—is a physical place where we will dwell with glorified
physical bodies (1 Corinthians 15:35-58). The concept that heaven is “in the clouds” is
unbiblical. The concept that we will be “spirits floating around in heaven” is also unbiblical.
The heaven that believers will experience will be a new and perfect planet on which we will
dwell.
The new earth will be free from sin, evil, sickness, suffering, and death. It will likely
be similar to our current earth, or perhaps even a re-creation of our current earth, but without
the curse of sin.
What about the new heavens? It is important to remember that in the ancient mind,
“heavens” referred to the skies and outer space, as well as the realm in which God dwells.
So, when Revelation 21:1 refers to the new heavens, it is likely indicating that the entire
universe will be created—a new earth, new skies, a new outer space.
It seems as if God's heaven will be recreated as well, to give everything in the universe
a “fresh start,” whether physical or spiritual. Will we have access to the new heavens in
eternity? Possibly, but we will have to wait to find out. May we all allow God’s Word to
shape our understanding of heaven.
Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/new-heavens-earth.html
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The Man Of Sin
THE MAN OF SIN
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DEFINE AND DEFEAT
Doctrine Defined.
1. Doctrine which teaches that the man of sin is the Pope or the Papacy.
2. There are other that say that this is the Devil himself.
3. Many claims that this is the Antichrist.
4. Others say that was the Roman Emperor.
5. Others say that was the High priest.
6. Premillennialists believe that shortly before the second coming the world
Doctrine Defeated.
1. 2 Thessalonians 2 is the center of our attention in these matters.
2. If the second coming of Christ is imminent then everything that accompanies it,
succeeds it and precedes it, is likewise imminent.
3. “The most probable view is that Paul had in mind the principle of lawlessness,
working in his day, causing distress to the followers of Christ, but restrained by
Roman law and power. This evil principle has continued to work and has been
embodied in many historic characters and systems.
4. Whenever and wherever men have added to, taken from, changed, perverted, spoken
presumptuously, used their tongues and say “He saith,” spoken a vision out of their
own heart and not out of the mouth of Jehovah, make void the word by their own
tradition, corrupt it, handle it deceitfully or go beyond it in any way, there we find the
embodiment of lawlessness and the man of sin at work.
5. This will always be the case as long as there are those who deny God’s right to govern
them and go about to establish their own authority in religion.
6. Another alternative of the man of sin are:
a. Gnosticism.
b. Judaism.
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True
TRUE
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LAST THINGS: “MAN OF LAWLESSNESS” 2 THESSALONIANS 2:1-5
(Earl Edwards)
“Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and our gathering together to him, that you may not be quickly shaken from your composure
or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the
day of the Lord has come.” [All Scripture references are from the New American Standard
unless otherwise stated.]
Here Paul is clearly dealing with a false doctrine. But what false doctrine is in
question? Saying “that the day of the Lord has come.” The KJV says “that the day of Christ
is at hand,” but the NIV, RSV, NAS and many others are almost certainly correct in rendering
“has come.” There are several reasons for affirming this:
The same expression used here in the Greek is in all of its other six appearances in
the N.T. rendered in the sense of already present; The inspired writers affirm, not deny, that
Christ’s coming is “at hand” (cf. Phil. 4:5, Jas. 5:8) thus saying it is “at hand” would not
constitute a “false” doctrine; The false doctrine of teaching the resurrection (an essential part
of the second coming) to be already past is mentioned elsewhere in Scripture (cf. 2 Tim.
2:17-18 where Hymenaeus and Philetus are said to have taught this doctrine). Just exactly
how these false teachers developed their doctrine is not said. Some suppose that they taught
that the only resurrection for Christians is a figurative one, that which takes place spiritually
at baptism—therefore, they concluded that the resurrection was already past. Possibly they
taught that the Lord “comes” for each of us personally at our conversion and therefore they
expected no such universally--seen “coming” of our Lord as the Scriptures describe here and
elsewhere (cf. Rev. 1:7). At any rate, whatever the exact nature of the doctrine, Paul did not
want the Christians of Thessalonica to let it influence them or to be unsettled by it because it
was a manifestly false doctrine.
EVENTS TO PRECEDE THE DAY OF THE LORD - 2:3-12
In order to show the falsity of the idea that the day of the Lord had already come, Paul
begins to explain that certain things had to happen before the coming of Christ. He says if
they will stop and reflect they will remember that he had told them this while present in
Thessalonica (see verse 5). 2:3-4 “Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come
unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction,
who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he
takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.”
Do not let anyone “deceive you in any way.” To be deceived is to be misled, usually
by underhandedness or cheating. Paul says do not let this happen in “any way” (whether by
letters supposedly from Paul -- see v. 2 -- or in other ways). “It” (the day of the Lord when
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Christ returns) “will not come unless,” something else happens “first.” The “apostasy”
(“rebellion” -- NIV” falling away” -- KJV) is what must come “first.” The term used indicates
a defection/opposition. This will be against God and his will a deviation or apostasy from his
plan for man (cf. Mt. 7:15 and Acts 20:28-31). This “rebellion” will feature the “revealing”
(making manifest) of “the man of lawlessness” or “man of sin”1 as in the KJV. This “man”
is one who belongs to a lawless class of people. He is, in fact, a “son of destruction” (or
literally “son of perdition” as the KJV). He “belongs to” or is “characterized by” destruction.
That is, he is destined to doom (Cf. Jn. 17:12 where “son of perdition” is used to describe
Judas). Sin or lawlessness is personified in this being just as righteousness is in Christ Jesus.
By the way Paul mentions “the apostasy” with the definite article, it is clear that he was
writing about something he had already explained orally to the Thessalonians. Unfortunately,
however, we do not have access to what he told them, so it is more difficult for us to
understand. This well-known rebellion will happen before Christ’s return. When it happens
this “man” will be “revealed” just as Christ will be at his coming.
Paul gives other facts about this rebel: he “opposes and exalts himself above every
so-called god or object of worship.” This man “opposes,” that is, he actively opposes God
and God’s way and “exalts himself” instead of God. Instead of leaving worship to God, he
desires worship. Further he even “takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as
being God.” The word used for “temple” is the one which described not the entire temple
area with courts etc, rather it is the word for the temple proper2 which was God’s dwelling
place among the Jews but it may well have a figurative meaning of usurpation here. The
phrases “takes his seat” and “displaying himself” give the flavor of an official installation
ceremony.
Who then is this “man of lawlessness?” Is this a COLLECTIVE REFERENCE TO

THE LINE OF POPES, as the Presbyterian Albert Barnes believes (81)? He certainly gives
ample evidence that the popes have “left no wickedness unpracticed” and the titles they wear
(like “Vicar of Christ,” “Our Lord God the Pope” etc.) and the authority they pretend (over
all temporal rulers too) make this idea attractive. But, it seems doubtful that the popes are
the “man of lawlessness.” The papacy limits its claim of infallibility and total lawlessness
and evil do not seem to characterize them, as is the case here. Further, Paul seems to speak
of an evil that will climax just before Christ’s second coming and then be destroyed by him
at his coming (see vv. 8-10).
Another identification is that it is a COLLECTIVE REFERENCE TO THE LINE OF

ROMAN EMPERORS. In fact, the emperors claimed to be divine and numerous of them
demanded worship beginning late in the 1st century. And from about 64 A.D. on (in Nero’s
reign) they persecuted (“opposed”) Christianity. It is even true that one emperor, Caligula
(12-41 A.D.), profaned the temple at Jerusalem by setting up a statue of himself inside it.
However, while it is this kind of thing which is described by Paul, he cannot be referring to
this because he is obviously pointing to the future and this had already happened before Paul
wrote. But again, the Roman Empire was completely destroyed in the late fifth century A.D.
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and Paul seems to be speaking of a power that will climax just before Christ’s return. How
can he have the emperors in mind? The “man of lawlessness” is to be in existence and be
destroyed by Christ at his coming (8-10).
Another theory is that the “man of lawlessness” is THE DEVIL HIMSELF. In fact,
the term Satan means “adversary” and verse 4 says he is to “oppose.” Some who hold this
view believe that Satan may become incarnate before the end of time and gather his workers
for a great battle. This idea is attractive especially since the many elements of the description
here correspond to descriptions of Satan in other passages. And certainly, Christ will destroy
Satan at his coming (cf. Rev. 20:10). But, a difficult hurdle for this theory is found in verse
9 where it is said that the coming of the “man of lawlessness” will be “in accordance with
the work of Satan.” Therefore, it seems inescapable that he is not Satan himself, rather he is
one who works on parallel lines with Satan.
Still another theory is that the “man of lawlessness” is a “man” only in the sense that
evil is sometimes personified. The “man of lawlessness” would, according to this idea, be
EVIL PERSONIFIED. The idea would be that later in the Christian Age (after Paul’s time -
- he does not say how long after) evil would begin to grow in intensity (cf. 1 Tim. 4:1ff., 2
Tim. 3:13 and 2 Tim. 4:3) and then according to this passage it seems that near the end of the
world the forces of evil will try to suppress all worship of God.
These forces of evil would include false religions, atheistic forces and all similar
forces. These are personified and called “the man of lawlessness.” Then, when it seems that
“the man” has won the war (cf. Lk. 18:8 and 17:26-30), Christ will come and destroy him
with the brightness of his (Christ’s) coming. This view seems to fit better with all the facts
than any of the others, but any view should be recognized as being very subjective.
Many of the views presented above, including the last one, do think of the “man of
lawlessness” as being identical with “the anti-Christ” spoken of in 1 John 2:18. Careful study
seems to indicate that John too is personifying evil especially the evil that operated in false
teachers who denied Christ having come in the flesh (cf. 1 Jn. 4:1-3). But that John has no
one single person in mind appears from his use of “many anti- Christ’s” (cf. 1 Jn. 2:18). 2:5
“Do you not remember that while I was with you, I was telling you these things?” Paul says,
in reality you should “remember” that I “was telling you” (repeated action indicated by the
verb) these things. You should have known that the “second coming” could not possibly have
taken place as yet because you should have remembered that I told you that all of this would
take place before the second coming. In fact, the “man of lawlessness” cannot be manifested
as yet because something is “holding him back” (cf. next verse).
Source: Freed Hardeman Lectureship, “At His Coming” - 1998, Earl Edwards: Last Things:
Man of lawlessness – 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5. Pages 102-106.
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THE MAN OF SIN AND THE ANTICHRIST
(Goebel Music)
The thrill of this lectureship is not only that of the continuation, revival, of the Fort
Worth Christian College Lectures -and I certainly believe they produced some of the finest
material available for our brotherhood and so we thank God for the brethren at Brown Trail
and these Fort Worth Lectures but the joy of “ . . . guarding that which is committed unto us,
turning away from the profane babblings and oppositions of the knowledge which is falsely
so called” (I Tim. 6:20), and also the challenge of “ . . . being ready always to give answer to
every man that asketh us a reason concerning the hope that is in us, yet with meekness and
fear” (1 Pet. 3:15). Every child of God ought to be set for the defense of the gospel, and this
is exactly what the word apologia means in the above-mentioned verse.
Therefore, in the words of Paul, “. . . we are not as the many, corrupting the word of
God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ” (II Cor. 2:17).
Our aim is to never “. . . go beyond the things which are written . . .” (I Cor. 4:6). The
caption of this lecture comes from the pen of two of the men of God, Paul and John, who “.
. . spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit” (11 Pet. 1:21). Even though the thought
of the title seems double, and it is, we h0pe to show the unity of thought in ascribing it to one
lecture.
It is Paul who uses the term “man of Sin” and John who employs the expression
“antichrist.” In fact, these designations are used only by these two men. It may be well to
note just here that the phrase “man of sin,” (Greek, ho anthropos tes hamartías is in the critical
apparatus of the three Greek New Testaments I checked, while the appellation “man of
lawlessness,” (Greek, ho anthropos tes anomz’as) is in the text.
This explains why “man of sin,” in the King James and American Standard has a
footnote for “man of lawlessness.” As to which one is actually correct, let us note this
statement in the introduction of The Greek New Testament edited by Aland, Black, Metzger
and Wikgren: “The letter ‘C’ enclosed within braces at the beginning of each set of textual
variants means that there is considerable degree of doubt whether the text or the apparatus
contains the superior reading.”3 John brings into play the Greek word antíchrizstos, against
Christ.4 Let us now note the Spirit’s message where these are both found.
I. DECLARING THE TEXTS
(1) It is to the Thessalonians that Paul mentions “the man of sin.” “Now we beseech
you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together unto
him; to the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by
spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand; let no
man beguile you in any wise: for it will not be, except the falling away come first, and the
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man of sin be revealed, the son perdition, he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all
that is called God or that is worshipped; so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself
forth as God. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And
now ye know that which restraineth, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season.
For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one that restraineth now, until
he be taken out of the way. And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus
shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his
coming; even he, whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and
signs and lying wonders, and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because
they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause god
sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they all might be judged
who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (lI Thes. 221-12).
(2) Only in two of John’s epistles,1st and 2nd John, does he mention the “antichrist.”
However, he mentions “antichrist” five times. “Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye
heard that antichrist cometh, even now have there arisen many antichrists; whereby we know
that it is the last hour” (I John 2: 18). “Who is the liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the
Christ? This is the antichrist, even he that denieth the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22).
“And every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: and this is the spirit of the antichrist,
whereof ye have heard that it cometh; and now it is in the world already” (I John 4:3). “For
many deceivers are gone forth into the world, even they that confess not that Jesus Christ
cometh in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist” (II John 7).
II. DESCRIBING THE TIMES
(1) The Thessalonian’s misunderstanding. It is well that we note a brief word or two
relative to the background of these epistles and the circumstance under which they were
written. Paul had done a great work in Thessalonica (Acts 17), but because of some
opposition, was compelled to leave by night. Later he met Timothy at Corinth and perhaps
learned from him the conditions in Thessalonica. Paul then wrote to them the first epistle and
in it he mentioned the comfort they should have as they anticipate the second coming of
Christ. However, it seems there was some misunderstanding of what he had written; and, so,
now he writes the 560* 0nd epistle as one of correction concerning their expectation of the
immediate coming of Jesus. He had made the statement in his first letter that “the Lord
himself shall descend from heaven. . ..” (l Thess. 4:16) and it will be sudden (I Thess. 5:3),
but they took him to mean that his coming was immediate. Now he tells them the coming is
not “just at hand,” and also that there will be a “falling away first, and the man of sin be
revealed, . . .” (2 Thess. 2:3). After making this statement to these perturbed Thessalonians
and correcting the false view of His coming, Paul then describes the “man of sin, the son of
perdition.” It is just at this point that the first thought of our caption comes into focus.
(2) The false teaching John combated. Although there is a difference of about 40 years
in the writing of Paul to the Thessalonians and that of John to the Christians who received
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his letters, both groups faced some of the same problems. Those to whom John wrote were
beset by a number of items, and Gnosticism with its false teachers was trying to destroy the
faith of these brethren. False teaching had caused a problem in Thessalonica and now false
teaching is causing another problem. These false teachers are called liars, deceivers, false
prophets and antichrists. It is not ours to explain all about Gnosticism, but the fact is that the
Christians were to submit to the authority of the Scriptures without reservation and not to go
beyond that which is written. True knowledge is to know and obey Jesus (l John 223-5; 5:20).
Therefore, this brings into view our second thought in the title of this lecture. Because
of our “time element,” we described the “times” of these books in a very few words.
However, they are enough to let us know that a similarity is found in both the admonition of
Paul and John to those whom they wrote. This same admonition becomes ours today as we
also try to defend the authority of the Word and stand valiantly for that which is written.
History has never known a time when human reason did not challenge divine revelation and
the faith that is inspired! What this lectureship is all about is “human reasoning without God.”
III. DEFINING THE TERMS
(1) The “man of sin.” Before noticing the various opinions as to who “the man of sin”
is, let us list some things about him as penned by Paul. C. Campbell Morgan says, “there are
three descriptions; ‘lawless one,” ‘son of perdition,’ and ‘man of sin.” It is interesting to note
that in verse eight we have the Greek word anomos used and in verse seven we have the
Greek word anomias (King James has “wicked” and “iniquity” in the places I have just
noted). This perhaps is why some favor the term “the man of lawlessness.” Matthew Henry
states that Paul tells us many remarkable things about “the man of sin.” including his names,
his character, his rise, his fall, his reign and also the ruin of his subjects? The names we have
already noted. His character shows him to be one who opposes and exalts himself above all
that is called God, or is worshipped, and as God he sitteth in the temple of God, showing
himself that he is God (vs. 4). His rise is mentioned in verses 6-7.
Though something hindered him, this mystery of iniquity was gradually to arrive at
its height and Paul said “it doth already work.“ Verse eight describes “the lawless one" but it
also says the Lord would consume and destroy him by the breath of his mouth. His reigning
and the manner thereof are also now mentioned (verses 9-10). The manner of his coming is
“according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders” and it is
“with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish.” His willing subjects are those who
“receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
These are they who heard the truth, but who had not love for it. I just imagine they
could not bear sound doctrine, so it was easy for false doctrine to become theirs. The final
thing mentioned is the sin and ruin of the subjects of such lawlessness. We note in verses 11-
12 that they “believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” and this was their
sin. Their ruin is seen in the fact that God would send them a working of error, that they
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should believe a lie.” Thus, we find that God punishes men for their unbelief, dislike of the
truth and pleasure in unrighteousness. This can only spell eternal damnation and ought to be
enough to make any of us shudder with horror at the thought of disobedience to the truths of
the gospel!
(2) The “antichrist.” Concerning the “antichrist” of John, the author says he is a “liar,”
“he denies that Jesus is the Christ,” “he denieth the Father and the Son,” “he denies that Jesus
came in the flesh,” “says he is not ‘of God,” “and also calls him a “deceiver.” The lexicons
both by Thayer and Arndt-Gingrich state him as being “the adversary of the Messiah.”7 So
here we have one who is “opposed” to Christ, or perhaps it would be better to say
“antagonistic to” Christ.
IV. DELINEATING THE THOUGHTS
(1) Identifying the “man of sin.” One of the difficult problems of New Testament
study is the understanding as to “who” the “man of sin” really is. All kinds of ideas and
opinions have been set forth. It is our purpose now to notice various ones of these and then
later on to state our belief about this matter.
(a) Many commentators are firmly convinced that the “man of sin” is an individual
and thereby they seek to identify some person in history with him. It seems that this
is a Hebraism referring not to an individual but to a system of evil.
(b) According to Schneckenburger and Weiss, Paul has in mind the person whom the
Jews will acclaim as their Messiah.9 The objection here is that the “lawless one”
opposes and exalts himself against all that is called God or worshipped, and this no
Jewish pretender to the Messiahship would do.
(c) According to Kern, Baur and many others, the thought is not of a Jewish figure
but a pagan one, namely, Nero. The idea is that he would return and set up an anti-
Christian kingdom. However, Nero was a great persecutor and there is nothing in
Paul’s description to make us think this.
(d) Some have the notion this refers to a politically organized world power under a
supreme head. The thought that does not seem to fit here is that this is not a political
figure but a spiritual one.
(e) Many identify the man of sin with historical characters such as Caligula,
Mohammed or Napoleon. The objection here is that the man of sin is to continue in
power until he is destroyed by the coming of Christ.
(f) For centuries, masses of the Protestant world held the position that the Pope in
Rome, or the papacy, was the man of sin, the restraining power being the Roman
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Empire and the “temple of God” being the Christian Church. This View has largely
been abandoned in recent years, mainly due to the fact that the popes do not claim for
themselves exclusive divine honors. Each declares himself to be the “vicar” of Christ
and only as such infallible in matters of religion. (For a detailed study of this thought
the reader is referred to footnote 11).
(2) Identifying the “antichrist.” Two positions are generally held about the
“antichrist” of John:
(a) Some scholars claim that John does not mean a personal antichrist; already ‘there
have arisen many antichrists’ (I John 2:18). He informs these Christians that anyone
so denying the incarnation is antichrist. He indicates that the expectation of antichrist
is fulfilled in this way.
(b) Others think that John meant that such antichrists as John’s ‘many’ are forerunners
of a great personal antagonist of Christ to arise at the end of the world.
V. DEDUCING THE TENETS
We now come to give our personal view on “the man of sin” and the “antichrist.” One
man has stated, “After two thousand years of church history, there is still a wide difference
of opinion as to who or what constitutes ‘the man of sin’.”
Therefore, this View is given in all humility, as truly this passage constitutes one of
the most difficult ones in Paul’s writings. As for as what we actually and positively know
and can document, Augustine’s confession of “I confess that I am entirely ignorant what the
Apostle meant” sums it up.
(1) Who is “the man of sin?” However, from the language employed by Paul, coupled
with what I have read and studied, makes me lean toward the view that the “man of sin” is
not an individual but a principle of lawlessness. I now list only some of what I have studied
to document this thought.
(a) Under the word hamartía, Thayer mentions one so possessed by sin that he seems
unable to exist without it, “. . . in this sense as a power exercising dominion over men
(sin as a principle and power) is rhetorically represented as an imperial personage . .
.”
(b) “The man of sin is understood to be a principle of error or lawlessness that arose
in the church . . . This lawless principle is a principle among those claiming to be the
Lord’s people but are not willing to be controlled in all things by the word of God.
“The name occurs in Paul’s remarkable announcement in II Thessalonians 2:3-10 of
the manifestation of a colossal anti-Christian power prior to the advent, . . .” “Hence
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it is not clear that Paul has in mind only one individual or even individuals at all rather
than evil principles . . .” “The most probable view is that Paul had in mind the
principle of lawlessness, working in his day, causing distress to the followers of
Christ, but restrained by Roman law and power. This evil principle has continued to
work and has been embodied in many historic characters and systems.”
(2) Who is the “antichrist?” Now, let us note some information in our studies and
research about the “antichrist.” Again, it is only “a few” of the thoughts read.
(a) “By the word, John most probably meant the ruling spirit of error and the natural
personification of this is Satan . . . Paul’s ‘man of sin’ is almost synonymous with the
word.”20
(b) “The man of sin is identical with the antichrist of I John 2:18 . . . The traces of
that spirit which overrules God’s laws and substitutes its own were abundant in the
church. It showed itself in attempts to engraft both Judaism and paganism into
Christianity . . . Antichrists shall employ the methods of Satan, and shall prove his
claims by false miracles.
(c) “Antichrists was to come ‘with all power and signs and lying wonders, . . .
Antichrist was a spiritual power.”
(d) “Antichrist, according to St. John, is the ruling spirit of error, the enemy of the
truth of the Gospel as it is displayed in the divinity and holiness of Christ . . . This is
the primary meaning of the term, . . St. Paul speaks of the ‘man of sin’ and it is
supposed by most interpreters that Antichrist is to be understood as the object alluded
to by the apostle;
(e) . . . he employs it of the corrupt power and influence hostile to Christian interests,
especially that which is at work in false teachers who have come from the bosom of
the church and are engaged in disseminating error . . . In Paul . . . the idea but not the
name Antichrist is found . . .” Last week I drove to Decatur to hear Guy N. Woods
and while there I asked him who he thought the “antichrist” was. He replied: “the man
of sin.” It seems to me that the overwhelming evidence is in favor of this view.
Whether we speak of the “man of sin” or the “antichrist,” we refer to a principle or
spirit of lawlessness contrary to the truths revealed in His Majesty’s Word. I will have
more to say about this in my concluding remarks.
VI. DENYING THE TEACHING
Premillennialists, along the line of our text, believe and teach the imminence of
Christ’s coming. It is worthy to note that the Bible teaches now just what it has always taught
about the second coming. If it was imminent in the days of Paul, it is today.
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The word “imminent” means “likely to happen without delay.” Paul did not, in II
Thessalonians 2:1-3, expect the Lord to return immediately. He states emphatically that the
coming of the Lord is not “just at hand.” In fact, Paul outlined the apostasy of which we have
been speaking and that principle of lawlessness is still in the process of development. He
made it clear “it will not be, except the falling away come first. and the man of sin be
revealed.”
Cled E. Wallace writes: if the second coming of Christ is imminent then everything
that accompanies it, succeeds it and precedes it, is likewise imminent. They tell us that the
Jews must be returned from all nations of the earth, and re-established as a nation in Palestine,
and converted to Christ. The Roman empire must be reestablished, all this before Jesus can
come. Are such developments imminent? They must be if the second coming is imminent. Is
all this likely to happen in a moment of time, by miraculous circumstances, that have nothing
to do with the gospel?”
Also, we note a further statement about the premillennialists and their teachings.
“Generally, premillennialists believe that shortly before the second coming the world will be
marked by extraordinary tribulation and evil and the appearance of the Anti-Christ. At his
coming Christ will destroy this anti-Christ and believers will be raised from the dead. There
will then follow a millenium of peace and order over which Christ will reign with his saints.
At the close of this time, Satan will be loosed and the forces of evil will once again be
rampant. The wicked will then be raised, and a final judgment will take place in which Satan
and all evil ones will be consigned to eternal punishment.” Brethren, the gravest danger is
that of the man who leaves out God, mocks at authority and vaunts his own ideas and theories.
The greatest peril we have to confront is that growing spirit of rebellion, the principle of
lawlessness, as such we see in the premillennialists and their materialistic view of the reign
of Christ. The essential character of such is the assumption of the right to change and modify
the laws of God and to legislate for the Kingdom. There is no doubt that this principle has
been seen in many persons and systems in religious history and for a person to deny this is
to be void of the truth.
VII. DEMANDING THE TRUTH
When John wrote his epistle, he said: “They went out from us, but they were not of
us" (I John 2:19). It is probable that these teachers exhibited some ability to work wonders,
as evil spirits in the days of the Master had such power. John wrote to warn against such and
gave the admonition to “prove, try, the spirits” (I John 4:1). They were all to be tested and
there is only one method of doing such and that is by the Word of God! If a man did not
conform to the Word, even though he should work wonders and signs, he was to be rejected,
and it is no different today. Paul also had something to say along this line of “how to prove
a man to be a prophet, or spiritual” (I Cor. 14:37). Obedience to the living word of God is the
standard, not human reasoning, feeling or witnessing. Human claims are not self-
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authenticating! Conforming to the Word of God is the only test that is acceptable with God
and we have every right to “demand the truth.”
CONCLUSION
Let us hasten to say that a man who in any way opposes Christ, denies the divinity of
Christ, refuses to believe on Christ and teaches and practices things contrary to the Word of
Christ is “antichrist,” and as such is following a principle of lawlessness and is to that degree
“the man of sin.” Wherever this principle is found, there is the mystery of iniquity. All
organizations, institutions and practices of men that grow out of the exercises by man or men
of this character are developments of “the man of sin.”
To make it clearer let us state that whenever and wherever men have added to, taken
from, changed, perverted, spoken presumptuously, used their tongues and say “He saith,”
spoken a vision out of their own heart and not out of the mouth of Jehovah, make void the
word by their own tradition, corrupt it, handle it deceitfully or go beyond it in any way, there
we find the embodiment of lawlessness and the man of sin at work. This will always be the
case as long as there are those who deny God’s right to govern them and go about to establish
their own authority in religion.
When a man assumes to be wiser than God, I think we can say he fulfills the statement
of “sitting in the temple of God, showing himself to be God and exalting himself above all
that is called God.” It is God’s place to make laws for his people. However, this evil principle
of lawlessness takes that authority on itself and so changes the laws of God. Let us just go
one step further and say that all dissatisfaction among Christians with the laws and
appointments as God gave them is a manifestation of this spirit of rebellion against God.
Also, all organizations that grow out of such are manifestations of “the man of sin” and the
“antichrist.”
“Premillennialism True or False?” Goebel Music: The Man of Sin and the Antichrist. Pages
172-180.
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THE MAN OF SIN
(Sam Hester)
Paul is writing these words in II Thessalonians 2: 1-12 to first century, Thessalonian

Christians to calm fears that came from their misunderstanding the Lord’s coming. He is
supplementing what he has already told them by word of mouth. He alludes to this former
teaching (II Thess. 2:5). Paul can assume much on the part of his readers who heard him in
person.
Later readers who did not hear Paul personally would have difficulty with
understanding this chapter. Not knowing what he stated orally consequently makes this
chapter more difficult for the modern reader to interpret. We do not possess the key to
everything said here. As a result, we should use reserve in our interpretation. The theme is
stated unchronologically, leaving some gaps. These gaps have caused many extravagant
speculations.
The chapter is summarized as follows: Before the Lord comes, certain other events
must happen first. The appearance of the lawless one must come to pass. At the present time
(as Paul was writing) the man of sin is restrained from appearing. After the restraint is
removed, the lawless one, the man of sin, will appear. This lawless one will deceive the
ungodly. They will share in his judgment and destruction by the Lord. This destruction will
be at the end of time. Let us study what Paul says by inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Let us
note the characteristics of the man of sin. Then, let us conclude who or what the man of sin
is.
Discussion
Paul exhorts the Thessalonians in verse 1 (ASV) when he says: How we beseech
you, brethren, touching the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our coming together unto
Him. Beseeching means pleading, almost begging. “Touching” means” concerning” or”
pertaining to.” Christ will come to the earth for the purpose of receiving His people. He will
not come back to the earth to live on it. All believers, dead and alive, will be' joined together
at that time. They will then be joined unto the Lord eternally and will never be separated
from Him. For the believer, meeting the Lord will be the most important part in Christ’s
coming. The purpose of Paul’s beseeching is presented next.
The contents of the exhortation are described in verse 2. The mental attitude
prohibited is stated in the first part of the verse: to the end that ye be not quickly shaken
from your mind, nor ye be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us (v.
2a). “Shaken” refers to affecting the foundation. The Thessalonians were not to be troubled
by someone’s attitude or feeling. They were not to be troubled by the teaching of anyone.
They were not to be troubled by any letter like those sent by Paul, Silas, or Timothy.
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There were obviously forgeries of letters in those days as if they were from Paul.
Others, like the Gnostics, could have written epistles that they wanted accepted. The specific
teaching which Paul contradicted is at the end of the verse: “as that the day of the Lord is just
at hand” (v. 2b). This passage condemns someone troubling Christians about the Lord’s
coming, about which Paul has already written them. Paul is saying that the “day of the Lord”
is not definitely “just at hand.”
At this strategic point, Paul warns his readers and hearers against being beguiled. He
says, “Let no man beguile you in any wise” (v. 5a). Paul used a double negative (which is
not ungrammatical in the Greek) to emphasize how the readers are to respond. Paul literally
says, “Let it not happen by no means.” Paul knew that deceivers will try every trick in the
book to lead some astray. Christians are commanded not to let that happen. “Beguile” means
“wag the tail.” It refers to getting someone to do something because you express favor for
him or her. It is like a dog charming you by wagging his tail in your presence. Some rely
upon charm too much. With their smile, they try to secure good acceptance of what they say.
Now, Paul declares when this man of sin will be revealed.
For it will not be, except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition (v. 3b). The Greek word for “falling away” is from apostasia, signifying
revolt, defection, or turning away. The Greek translation of the Old Testament used the word
apostasia for the Hebrew word “rebellion" in Joshua 22:22. This refers to a large-scale
apostasy. The word “first” is from the word proton. This indicates that the falling must
happen first before Christ comes. The word “revealed" implies that the man of sin already
existed somewhere as Paul was writing but that he was not manifested to the general public
as yet. He has now been revealed. The falling away from the truth, that Paul said must come
to pass, has also already occurred.
Characteristics of The Man of Sin
What are the characteristics of this “man of sin”? Look for sixteen things that the
chapter says about the man of sin. The man of sin has sin or sinfulness as his very nature.
In other words, he is characterized by sin.
He is destined for destruction. The phrase “son of perdition” means that he is

destined for perdition. ” Perdition” means destruction. It refers to the fact that the one so
described will be destroyed. Judas lscariot was called a son of perdition.
He exalts himself. He that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called
God or that is worshipped, so that he sitteth in the temple of God, setting himself forth as
God (v. 4). The Roman Emperor Caligula had made a desperate attempt to have his statue
set up for worship in the Temple of Jerusalem (AD. 41). This last incident may lie behind
Paul's language here.
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He opposes anything that is called God. He is an opponent of God. To claim to
know so much is to claim supernatural powers. 1n the visions of Daniel chapter 11, the
prophet speaks of a king who will “exalt himself and magnify himself above every god”
(Dan. 11:56). This king proves to be Antiochus Epiphanes IV who entered the temple at
Jerusalem and defiled it and thought of himself as the embodiment of one of the Greek gods.
He attempted to get the Jews to cease their worship of Jehovah and worship the Grecian
deities. If this one described by Paul opposes anything which is called God or deity, then he
would naturally oppose Christ. The word “antichristos” occurs in the New Testament only in
the epistles of John (I John 2: 18, 22; 4:5; ll John 7), but the idea is quite familiar. (Cf. F. F.
Bruce The Epistles of John (London, 1970), p. 64ff. F. F. Bruce Paul: Apostle of The Heart
Set Free (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1996, reprint), p. 231, footnote 28].
He wants to be worshipped as a "god." He sits in the temple of God. To sit in the

temple is to claim that one is a god. Nebuchadnezzar of the Old Testament made an image
of himself, which was to be worshipped. Some Roman emperors were also guilty of this.
Ezekiel 28:2 said the ruler of Tyre claimed to be God. One who wants to be enshrined in the
hearts of all as supernatural is claiming deity. The black preacher “Father Divine,” Mother
Ann Lee of the Quakers, and others, are also guilty of violating the principles of this passage.
Paul had reminded them of past instructions on the subject. “Remember ye not, that when l
was yet with you, I told you these things?" (v. 5). Surely, they had asked Paul’s teaching
about rulers or about the Roman government (its future, etc.). Paul and others would be aware
of the rulers of Rome. They knew of Caligula’s attempt to have himself worshipped at
Jerusalem. It had just been ten years before. Paul had discussed these kinds of matters while
there. This is a gentle criticism of the readers. They ought to have remembered what Paul
told them. Obviously, Paul had to be careful how he phrased these matters in print. If he had
spoken of the removal of imperial power explicitly, there could have been serious
consequences for Paul and his friends.
The man of sin was being restrained as Paul wrote. The restraint upon the mystery
of lawlessness is described in verses 6-7. "And now ye know that which restraineth, to the
end that he may be revealed in his season” (v. 6). Who or what is this restrainer? Some think
it was the presence of inspired apostles that restrained the lawless one. Others have been
more specific to say that Paul’s own apostolic ministry was the restraint. Roman government
or the emperor has been suggested as the restrainer. Others have suggested Judaism. "That
which restrains” is a neuter phrase, but in verse 7 Paul used the masculine form instead. He
is thinking of an entity that can be regarded as a principle that could be embodied as a person.
The readers of Paul's letter know what is restraining. What they knew Paul had told them in
person.
He will be revealed. Paul implies that the man of sin will eventually manifest himself.
Whoever or whatever restrains or holds back will eventually be removed and the man of sin
will be revealed in his time. He is already at work beneath the surface. Later he will make
his debut. How they were experiencing this restraint. As verse seven says, ‘ For the mystery
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of lawlessness doth already work: only there is one that restraineth now, until he be taken out
of the way. Even in Claudius’ reign, the mystery was already becoming visible. The mystery
of lawlessness was then being restrained. The working of lawlessness precedes the rebel.
When the restraint is removed, rebellion will no longer be hidden. The wind is restrained in
Revelation 7: 1-5 until the servants have been sealed.
He is a mystery. He is called the mystery of lawlessness or anarchy. He will be

revealed later in his full malignity.
He will be unrestricted by any law. He lives and operates without law. He is

unrestricted. Everyone is at his mercy. Some say the restrainer is some individual emperor.
Claudius was reigning as Paul was writing. He would be poisoned on October 15, AD. 54.
After him Hero would reign. Nero would encourage lawlessness against the Christians. He
brought one of the first open persecutions against Christians. Paul and probably Peter died in
his administration. The manifestation of the lawless one is stated next. “And then shall be
revealed the lawless one” (v. 8a). A “lawless one” is one who will not be controlled or
contained by law. We are not to think just of the Law of Moses. It is the law of Christ or any
good law. The Empire is a force for law and order. The administration was basically just.
This restraining power is good rather than evil. God himself is involved in the restraint. The
restraining force is of supernatural dimension. It must be understood as having a divine
origin.
He will last until the end of time. Whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath
of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his coming (v. 8b). This power
would last until Christ comes again. This does not mean that New would live until Christ
comes again. It means that the embodiment of this type of evil would continue until Christ
comes. The “breath of his mouth” means with His Word, the Gospel. The sight of Christ will
bring terror to the Gospel’s adversaries.
Jesus will slay this one. The source of the power is revealed to us in verse. “Even he,
whose coming is according to the working of Satan.” “Whose” refers to the “rebellious one.”
This is true though the Lord Jesus is the nearest antecedent, linguistically speaking. lt refers
to the one Jesus will slay.
This one is empowered by Satan. Satan empowers the antichrist. God empowers the
Messiah. Likewise, Satan empowers the first and second beast in the book of Revelation.
This lawless one has deceptive power. “With all power and signs and lying wonders,
and with all deceit of unrighteousness” (vs. 9b-10a). The aim of the evil powers is to lead
men astray. “All deceit” refers to “all manner or kinds of deceit.”
He only deceives the non-Christian. The subjects under his power are identified:
“For them that perish” (v. 10a). Those under his power are the non-Christians.
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He is able to deceive those who do not love the truth. The reason for his power
over the lost is described in verses lOb-12. The guilt of the lost belongs to those who are lost.
“Because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved” (v. 10b). Love of
the truth will lead toward one’s salvation. The language indicates that one cannot be saved
without the love of the truth.
The lawless one has power over the lost (vv. 9-12).
He will cause many to be lost. Judgment will come upon those who are lost. And
for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: that they
all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness (W. 11-
12). When men do not love the truth, they will believe a lie. Pleasure of unrighteousness is
closely connected with believing a lie.
Conclusion
In interpreting this difficult passage, several have limited themselves. For instance,
some insist that the man of sin is a single, individual personage. Some proposals have been
Martin Luther (the Protestant reformer), Napoleon, Hitler, Henry Kissinger, Charles Manson,
David Koresh, or even Howard Stern. These interpretations are interesting. Some of the
characteristics even fit, but the view is far too delimiting.
Others think the man of sin is an office or position. Some proposals along this line
have been the papal office of the Roman Catholic Church. Others say it is emperor worship
in the Roman empire. These answers are better than the first type of interpretation.
Others think that it is a classification. An example of this is saying that the man of sin
is a counterfeit of Christ. Other New Testament writers speak of antichrist. The term
antichrist is not to be limited to the Gnostic antichrist.
In the book of Revelation, the first beast (the sea beast) opposes Christ, whereas the
Dragon opposes God, and the second beast or false prophet opposes the Holy Spirit. The first
beast wants to be worshipped. The second beast tries to force everyone to worship the first
beast. There is no substantial reason why the third category is not the best answer. There is
in fact several good reasons why it is the best answer. First, this choice includes the others.
Second, it fits the characteristics of the man of sin better. Third, it is concluded from inductive
Bible study, which is the best kind of study. Fourth, it is the only one that can consistently
be said to last until Jesus comes again.
What is the significance of all of this today? This chapter is relevant today because
many people do not want to give God and Christ what is due to them. Especially are human
governments tempted on occasions to think themselves to be higher than deity. Such
governments and such people will not get away with this blasphemy. Antiochus Epiphanes
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iv was unsuccessful in getting the Hebrews to change their allegiance to God. The Romans
were unsuccessful in getting the Christians to forsake God and Christ.
21, 1999. Sam Hester: The Man of Sin (II Thessalonians 2:1-12). Pages 303-312.
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Error
ERROR
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WHO IS THE MAN OF LAWLESSNESS IN 2 THESSALONIANS 2:1–12?
(GotQuestions.org)
Answer: The man of lawlessness in 2 Thessalonians 2:1–12 is the Antichrist who will
come on the world scene at the beginning of the Day of the Lord. This Day, sometimes called
the “end times,” starts after the rapture of the church in 1 Thessalonians 4:13–18 (cf. 1
Thessalonians 5:1–11). It is good to note that the Day of the Lord is not a twenty-four-hour
period of time; rather, it is an extended period of time that includes the seven-year tribulation,
the return of Christ to put down all rebellion against Him, the 1,000-year reign of Christ on
earth, the final defeat of Satan, and the Great White Throne Judgment.
The Antichrist is given the title “man of lawlessness” because he will oppose in every
way the biblical God and His law. He will be completely lawless. Daniel 7 speaks of this
man as a “boastful” king who will “try to change the set times and the laws” (verses 11 and
25). He will come offering a false peace to the world and will with his charismatic
personality, incredible promises, and breathtaking miracles unite all nations politically,
economically, and religiously under his leadership. At the same time, he will make a covenant
with Israel for three and one-half years (cf. Daniel 9:27, where “seven” indicates seven
years). In the middle of the seven years, the man of lawlessness will break his covenant with
Israel, stop their sacrifices (Daniel 9:27), and enter the temple to set himself up as “god” and
demand worship (2 Thessalonians 2:4). This is the “abomination that causes desolation” that
Jesus spoke of in Mark 13:14.
Satan works through the Antichrist, for Satan himself is not able to become incarnate.
By possessing and controlling the Antichrist, Satan is worshipped in the temple where the
biblical God is to be worshipped. No wonder the Antichrist is called the man of lawlessness.
To act as “god” is the ultimate rejection of the biblical God’s character and laws.This action
of the Antichrist will cause an upheaval in his worldwide kingdom, and forces from the East
will gather to fight against him. But instead of fighting each other, the forces of the world
unite to fight the King of kings and Lord of lords, who comes to put down the man of
lawlessness and his allies in the great battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16; 19:19). Of
course, the man of lawlessness loses that battle. He and his false prophet are then cast into
the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20). The Word of God (Revelation 19:13), Jesus Christ, will
be the Victor.
A quick observation of the happenings in our world today reveals that lawlessness is
on the rise. Such lawlessness will continue and increase (2 Timothy 3:13), and when the man
of lawlessness appears on the scene, he will be welcomed with open arms. Those who have
rejected the true Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, will fall for the Antichrist’s empty promise of
peace. It is vitally important that each of us is sure that we have accepted Jesus Christ as our
personal Savior and are living for Him. “Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when that
time will come” (Mark 13:33).
Source: https://www.gotquestions.org/man-of-lawlessness.html
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THE REVELATION OF THE MAN OF SIN
(John F. Walvoord)
The Rise of False Teaching
The second chapter of 2 Thessalonians is one of the great prophetic chapters of the
Scripture. No other chapter in the entire Bible covers precisely the same points of revelation
that are given here.
The occasion for the new revelation was the rise of false teaching in the Thessalonian
church. Because of their persecutions, some of the Thessalonians had begun to wonder
whether they were not already in the Day of the Lord, the predicted time of divine judgment.
If so, they realized that they were already in the time of tribulation, from which they had been
promised deliverance in 1 Thessalonians 5. In answer to this false teaching, Paul not only
gives them assurance that they are not in this period, but he also gives them definite signs,
the character of which cannot occur while the church is still in the world.
In the opening verses of the chapter, this problem is considered: “Now we beseech
you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto
him, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor
by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.” Practically all scholars agree that a
better translation of the closing phrase is, “that the day of the Lord is now present.” In other
words, they had been taught by someone that they were already in the Day of the Lord, that
this fearful period of divine judgment had already overtaken them. This troubled them
because it was not what Paul had taught them earlier.
The Alleged Revelation
The false teaching that had come to them by one of the three methods is mentioned
in verse 2, by “spirit,” “word,” or “letter as from us.” Some of them had claimed that the
Spirit of God had revealed this to them as a special revelation. Paul flatly contradicts this as
a teaching of God. He also denies that he had sent any word orally to this effect.
Further, he declares that he had not written it to them in a letter, “nor by letter as from
us.” Apparently, they had received a forged letter which claimed to be from the Apostle Paul,
teaching that they were already in the Day of the Lord. He said in effect, “I did not write such
a letter.” The letter, if it was written, must have been a forgery. The teaching that they were
then in the Day of the Lord is therefore labeled as false doctrine and their fears of being in
this awful period are shown to be groundless.
What Is the Day of the Lord?
In order to understand the nature of the error Paul is correcting, it is necessary to

define what is meant by the “day of the Lord.” This expression is found often in the Bible.
In a word, it is the period of time predicted in the Scripture when God will deal directly with
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human sin. It includes the tribulation time preceding the second advent of Christ as well as
the whole millennial reign of Christ. It will culminate in the judgment of the great white
throne. The Day of the Lord is therefore an extended period of time lasting over one thousand
years. This is brought out in the events included in the Day of the Lord, presented in
connection with the study of 1 Thessalonians 5.
Our present time is a day of grace. God is not attempting in our day to deal directly
with human sin. He may impose judgment in some cases; but there are many wicked people
who flourish, who have health and wealth; they may succeed in business, even though they
are not Christians and are not honoring the Lord. The Lord is not attempting to straighten
that out now. This is a day of grace. The purpose of God in this day is to proclaim His grace,
that souls may be saved by trusting in Christ and receiving God’s gift of grace.
In the Day of the Lord, however, God will deal directly with human sin. The Scripture
clearly presents the fact that the Day of the Lord is a day of divine judgment upon the world.
In the Day of the Lord Christ will rule with a rod of iron over the entire earth (Ps. 2:9; Rev.
2:27). He shall administer absolute justice (Isa. 11:1-9). In that day also Israel will be
regathered (Isa. 11:10-12) and brought into the blessed peace of the millennial kingdom
(Zeph. 3:14-20). In a word, there is a time of divine judgment coming, the Day of the Lord,
in which God will deal directly with this wicked world.
Were the Thessalonians Already in the Day of the Lord?
The question which faced the Thessalonians, however, was whether their present
sufferings were evidence that they were in this predicted period. Paul is answering this
question in effect, “No, you are not going to enter that period. The Lord will come for you
first.”
In order to make this particular doctrine clear, some of the things that occur at the
beginning of the Day of the Lord are revealed. Because these events had not taken place, it
demonstrated that the Day of the Lord had not yet begun.
The Thessalonians could not be in the Day of the Lord because certain things had to
happen first. Accordingly, Paul writes in verse 3: “Let no man deceive you by any means:
for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be
revealed, the son of perdition.”
The Predicted Departure From the Faith
Two things are mentioned in verse 3 as necessarily occurring before the Day of the
Lord and the time of judgment can begin. The first thing that is mentioned is “the falling
away,” and the word translated literally is “the apostasy,” which means a falling away or a
departure in a doctrinal sense. Our English word apostasy comes from the very Greek word
used here. Paul is writing them, then, that this Day of the Lord cannot come until there is a
widespread departure from the true faith in God. Some have understood this “departure” to
be the departure of the church itself—that is, the rapture. If so, it would definitely place the
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rapture before the tribulation. Most expositors have understood it as doctrinal departure, that
is, apostasy.
At the time 2 Thessalonians was written there were, no doubt, some errors in the
church, but there was no apostasy in the ordinary sense of the term. The churches were still
true to the Lord. Paul is declaring that the Day of the Lord cannot come until there is a
departure from the faith first. The Scriptures speak often of this coming apostasy. In 2
Timothy 3:13, it is revealed: “Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving
and being deceived.” Again in 2 Timothy 4:3-4, it is declared: “The time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be
turned unto fables.” The Scriptures, then, predict that before this time of judgment can come,
there must come first a turning away from true faith in God on the part of the professing
church.
In the twentieth century the situation is entirely different than it was for the
Thessalonian church. Today there is widespread apostasy. The sad fact is that there are many
who are not preaching the true gospel and, moreover, are denying the central doctrines of our
Christian faith. Some are teaching that Christ is only a man, that He did not rise from the
dead, that salvation is not through His shed blood, and that He is not coming again. They
deny that the Scriptures are the Word of God, and turn instead to some other forms of
teaching. To a certain degree, apostasy is already here.
The Coming of the Man of Sin
The Scriptures indicate, however, that this present stage of turning away from the
truth is just the beginning. It will culminate in that period called the Day of the Lord. The
record declares that “that day shall not come except there come a falling away first, and that
man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.” In other words, apostasy which today is general
is going to become specific. It will be headed up in the particular person mentioned here as
the “man of sin” or a man of lawlessness—a man who is opposed to God. He is called “man
of sin” because this is his chief characteristic. Just as we refer to Christ as the “man of
sorrows” because He was a man who had endured much sorrow, so this person is a man of
sin. His very life is characterized by blasphemous sin against God.
The verses which follow describe the nature of that sin: “Who opposeth and exalteth
himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the
temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.” Many believe that this is a reference to the
future world dictator, the beast out of the sea of Revelation 13. Others believe it is a reference
to the false prophet (Rev. 13:10-18; 19:20), who is associated with him. In either case, the
apostasy is embodied in a man who has not yet appeared. The Day of the Lord, therefore,
could not have come because this evil person has not yet been revealed.
In verse 5 Paul adds this word: “Remember ye not, that when I was yet with you, I
told you these things?” One of the remarkable facts about the Thessalonian church was that
Paul had taught them so much in so short a time. When Paul came to Thessalonica, there was
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not a single Christian there. When he left Thessalonica after only three weeks of ministry, a
small church had been formed. He had not only led them to Christ, but he had taught them
some of the deep things of the prophetic word. Now he reminds them of it. Paul writes:
“Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?”
The Restrainer
In verse 6 another reason is given why they were not in the Day of the Lord: “And
now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.” The “he” refers back
to this man of sin. The statement of verse 6 declares that there is something holding back the
revelation of this man of sin. An obstacle is in the way which had to be removed before the
Day of the Lord could begin.
In verses 7-8 the explanation is given: “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work:
only he who now letteth will let [or as is translated in modern English, ‘He who now restrains
will restrain’], until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed,
whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the
brightness of his coming.”
The “Wicked” one in verse 8 is another reference to the man of sin. He can be revealed
only when that which restrains his manifestation is taken away.
What is being referred to in this passage as the one who restrains? In verse 6 the
restrainer is described as an indefinite thing, “that which withholdeth” or “that which holds
back.” In verse 7 the restrainer is described as “he”—“only there is one that restraineth now,
until he be taken out of the way” A.S.V.). The record seems to imply that this must be a
person, but who is this person? Expositors have had a good deal of difficulty deciding just
what is meant. Even the best of Bible scholars who honor the Word of God do not necessarily
agree on the identity of the restrainer. Many explanations have been offered.
One interpretation is that the man of sin was Nero, the Roman emperor. He was so
evil that he was restrained by Seneca until Nero contrived to have Seneca put out of the way.
Then, of course, Nero was released and could do as he pleased. He burned many Christians
at the stake and brought much persecution on the church. But evidently this explanation is
not correct. The things which should follow the Day of the Lord, such as the second coming
of Christ, have not occurred since. The man of sin could not have been Nero and the restrainer
could not have been Seneca.
One honored scholar says the restrainer is Satan—that Satan is the one who is
restraining evil. His idea is that Satan is holding back evil in its true character and that
restraint will be removed in the time of the tribulation and then sin will be revealed in its true
picture. There may be some truth in the fact that Satan does not always manifest sin in its
real nature, as he is sometimes “transformed into an angel of light” (2 Cor. 11:14). Certainly,
the Bible does not teach that Satan actually restrains sin. The Bible from Genesis to
Revelation teaches exactly the opposite. Satan is revealed as doing all the evil he can.
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Furthermore, Satan is not taken away during the tribulation when evil reaches its peak. This
interpretation, likewise, is not correct.
Another very popular explanation is that the restrainer refers to the law and order
which came out of the Roman government. The Roman government was evil in many ways,
but it did preserve a certain amount of law and order. Adherents of this view visualized the
removal of law and order in the tribulation period with the result that restraint of evil is taken
away. They believe that the wicked one will be revealed then and sin will be brought out into
the open. But this explanation is also inadequate. While the Day of the Lord is a very evil
period, it will be a period of rigid government. There will be regimentation in that day such
as we in America have never known. A government permit will be required to go to the
grocery store and buy, and a government permit will be needed before one can sell.
Government will not be removed in the tribulation. Human government will reach its peak
of authority and power during this time. This explanation does not seem to fit the passage
either.
The Restrainer Is the Holy Spirit
Who is it, after all, that really restrains sin? The answer found in the Bible is that God
is the one who restrains sin. In Genesis 6:3 it is declared that the Spirit of God was restraining
sin in the days of Noah. It was predicted that instead of striving with sin God would judge it
in the flood.
In the Book of Job, it is recorded that Satan wanted to afflict Job, but God had built a
hedge about him. Satan testified that he was restrained by God from trying Job. When Satan
accused Job of serving God because God had been so good to him, God took down part of
the hedge and permitted Satan to take away all of Job’s property and all of his children in
one day. He left Job only his wife and his own life. When the Lord called Satan’s attention
to Job’s faithfulness in affliction, Satan said it was because God had preserved Job’s health.
Then God permitted Satan to afflict Job’s body, but not to take his life. Satan then brought
severe physical affliction upon Job, and Job was in torment in his body. But in it all Satan
could not go any further than God permitted him. Satan was restrained by God Himself.
It would not be possible for any believer to do any work for God if it were not for
God’s protecting hand. It is God who restrains. God may use varying means. He may use the
government which maintains a certain amount of law and order. In the end, it is God who
does it. It is God who provides protection for the Christian.
More specifically, in this present age it is the Spirit of God who provides protection.
As it is revealed in Genesis 6:3, the Spirit of God strives with men and opposes Satan and his
program and his hatred of the children of God.
While the Holy Spirit has always worked in times past, on the Day of Pentecost the
Spirit of God came in a special way. Christ, who had always existed and was always present
in the world, came into the world, was born of the Virgin Mary, and in a special sense left
the world when He ascended and went back to heaven, even though He said, “Lo, I am with
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you always.” So also, the Spirit of God came on the Day of Pentecost and now indwells the
church and is present in the world. The Spirit will return to heaven at the rapture.
The most natural explanation of the taking away of the restrainer is to identify this
particular action with the time when Christ will come to take out His church. If the Spirit of
God indwells the church and the church is taken out of the world, then the Spirit of God will
also be taken out of the world. This does not mean that the Spirit will not continue working
in the world in some way; but it will mean a reversal of Pentecost. Just as the Spirit came on
Pentecost, so He will leave when Christ takes the church out of the world.
The very removal of both the church and the Spirit from the world will release the
world to sin as it never has before. The presence of believers in the world exerts a great
influence upon the wicked world. Christians who have stood for civic righteousness and law
and order will no longer be in evidence. For the time being at least, there will be no one
except unsaved people to run government. The net result will be that evil will be manifested
beyond anything known in the history of man. The “mystery of iniquity” is, of course, already
working as mentioned in verse 7, but the Holy Spirit is now restraining sin until He is taken
away at the translation of the church. When this occurs, it is revealed in verse 8 that “then
shall that Wicked one be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth,
and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.”
There are, then, three good reasons why the Day of the Lord and the tribulation time
could not have begun in the time the Thessalonians lived: first, the apostasy had not come;
second, the man of sin had not been revealed; and, third, the Spirit of God had not been taken
away. In a large sense, those unfulfilled conditions are still true today. While there is apostasy
in our midst, the man of sin has not been revealed, and the Holy Spirit has not been removed.
All of this constitutes real evidence that the tribulation time has not come and that it cannot
come until Christ comes and takes His church home to glory.
The Character of the Man of Sin
In verse 9, there is continued revelation of the man of sin. He is described as one

“whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders.”
The principle that is expounded in Scripture is that Satan works by limitation. He wants to
be like God. As God has described in His Word that Christ and Christ alone can rule the
world in peace and righteousness, and has proved the deity of Christ by the many miracles
which He performed, so this man of sin will be Satan’s man even as Christ is God’s man. He
will be promoted in the world and assume the role of a superman. He will be set forth as the
outstanding leader who can bring the world out of its difficulties. His power will come from
Satan himself and Satan will enable him to perform certain signs and lying wonders. They
will not be on the same plane as the miracles which Christ performed, but he will be able to
do what will seem to be supernatural. The world will say of him, “Who is like unto the beast?”
(Rev. 13:4).
In the verses which follow, the working of Satan is described as accompanied “with
all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love
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of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion,
that they should believe a lie: that they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but
had pleasure in unrighteousness” (vv. 10-12).
Unbelievers Will Be Deceived by Man of Sin
The Scriptures teach clearly that many will be deceived and will not receive Jesus
Christ as their Savior. The man of sin will come as a substitute in place of Christ and people
who resisted Christ and did not receive Christ will flock in great numbers to follow this evil
character. This will come to pass, of course, in the time of the great tribulation. All of this is
declared to be a judgment from God. Men will be deceived and perish “because they received
not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.” “God shall send them strong delusion.”
But how can God deceive a person? The answer is given in the context.
First of all, it is clear that those who are deceived had opportunity to receive Christ,
but they did not do it. There seems to be a principle of divine justice here that when a person
turns away from the truth God allows that one to be led off into error. So often when people
depart from the truth it is because they have resisted the Spirit of God as He sought to lead
them into the knowledge of the Word of God. So, it will be in that day. Those who have
turned away from Christ will turn instead to this false leader and thus believe a lie instead of
believing the truth.
Some understand from verse 11 that if a person in this present age of grace hears the
gospel and does not receive Christ as Savior, then when Christ comes and takes His church
home to glory these will find it impossible to be saved after the church is translated. It is
unlikely that a person who rejects Christ in this day of grace will turn to Him in that awful
period of tribulation. But the usual principle of Scripture is that while there is life there is
hope. It is possible, though very improbable, that a person who has heard the gospel in this
present age of grace will come to Christ after the rapture. The Scriptures definitely teach that
God will send strong delusion to those who do not believe after the church is gone. God will
judge their hearts, and if they deliberately turn away from the truth He will permit them to
believe a lie. They will honor the man of sin as their god and as their king, instead of
acknowledging the Lord Jesus Christ. The result will be “That they all might be damned who
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness” (v. 12).
The Destiny of Unbelievers
The awful destiny of those who turn away from the Lord Jesus Christ is presented in
verse 12 so clearly. It is a sad fact that many today will not receive Christ. They are indifferent
and turn away without trusting Him. It is so common that Christians often fail to realize how
desperate the condition is of one who hears the gospel and turns away.
The choice is not an unimportant alternative. Men are actually determining their
eternal destiny. The person who turns from Christ finds himself in a path of total
hopelessness. He is headed, as the Scriptures make very clear, into eternal punishment.
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The Urgency of Preaching the Gospel
This solemn truth should give to us all a sense of the urgency of our day to tell people
about Christ. The great majority of people who are within the sound of the gospel today will
not heed and turn to Christ. It is very evident that these will flock after this false leader and,
instead of believing in Christ in that awful time of the tribulation, they will believe a lie and
go on to their eternal damnation. But in this day of grace Christians have a real commission.
The climactic days of the Day of the Lord will not come until Christ comes for us first. While
we wait we certainly should be challenged by the Lord to give our hearts and lives to Him.
As God enables us to proclaim the gospel, the message should be sent forth that Christ loves
those who are lost and died for them, that He is able to save if they will come to Him.
Christians need not fear the coming of this tribulation time, for we have the hope of His
imminent return.
Believers may have trouble in this world and some have gone through awful testings.
There have been tens of thousands of martyrs in our generation. But this is not the Day of the
Lord; this is not the time of tribulation. This is still the day of grace. God is still waiting for
lost men to come to Him. One of these days the last soul will be added to the church, and the
church—the body of Christ—will be complete. When that last one accepts the Lord Jesus, at
that very moment the Lord will come for His church, and the completed body of Christ will
be caught up to be with the Lord. Then will follow, as the Scriptures make so very plain, this
awful period described as the Day of the Lord—the time when God’s judgments will be
poured out upon an unbelieving world.
The obvious lesson from this portion of Scripture is that we should examine our own
hearts. Have we really trusted Christ? Have we been born again through faith in Him? If we
have not trusted in Him before, now is the time to put our faith in Him. If we take this step,
we can look forward with every other Christian to the coming of the Lord. That is our hope.
We need not fear the coming of the Day of the Lord for when that day comes on earth we
will be with the Lord in glory.
Source: https://bible.org/seriespage/8-revelation-man-sin
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THE MAN OF SIN
(EndTimesProphecy.org)
In 2 Thessalonians 2, the apostle Paul speaks of the rise of a "man of sin" who would
sit in the "temple of God" showing himself to be like God, and exalting himself into the place
of Christ Jesus on earth. This man of sin was already revealed hundreds of years ago during
the great Protestant reformation. But because of blindness to the truth and the deceptions of
Satan, the mainstream Christian churches have all pretty much rejected the great truths that
God revealed during the reformation. So here, we reveal them again for those who have eyes
to see.
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 ...'Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not
come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son
of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that
is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, showing himself that
he is God.'
Now what does it mean to sit in the temple of God, showing himself to be like God?
Well, we know from Hebrews 8:4-5 and Hebrews 9:24 that the earthly temple (tabernacle),
which God instructed Moses to make in the Old Testament was a COPY of the original
temple in heaven where Jehovah resides. So, let's find out from the temple sanctuary that
Moses made what God's throne is like.
Exodus 25:17-19 ...'And thou shalt make a mercy seat of pure gold: two cubits and a
half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt
make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the
mercy seat. And make one cherub on the one end, and the other cherub on the other end: even
of the mercy seat shall ye make the cherubims on the two ends thereof.'
This is the description of the articles in the most holy place of the sanctuary. We have
the mercy seat, which represents the throne of God. And either side of God's throne are two
golden cherubim. And remember, this is a COPY of the actual throne of God in heaven. So
in heaven, God has two living cherubim either side of His throne. And Ezekiel 28:12-17
confirms that Lucifer (Satan) used to be one of those "covering cherubs".
Psalm 99:1 ...'The Lord reigneth; let the people tremble: he sitteth between the
cherubims; let the earth be moved.'
Revelation 20:11 ...'And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose
face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.'
What is the "temple" today?
Acts 7:48 ...'Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; as saith
the prophet.'
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1 Corinthians 3:16 ...'Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit
of God dwelleth in you?'
2 Corinthians 6:16 ...'And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye
are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in
them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.'
1 Peter 2:5 ...'Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy
priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.'
This simple truth is overlooked by so many today. When we look for that man of sin,
we should not be looking for someone to be sitting in a rebuilt temple in Israel. No, the temple
of God today, as Paul and Peter confirmed, is THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH. So, the man
of sin we are looking for is someone SITTING IN THE 'PROFESSED' CHRISTIAN
CHURCH, showing himself that he is "like God" and exalting himself to a position where he
should not be.
So, we are looking for someone WITHIN the Professed Church, sitting on a throne,
acting like he is "as God"
Above are pictures of the last two Roman Catholic Popes, Francis and Benedict,
sitting on a "great white throne", BETWEEN TWO GOLDEN CHERUBIM, being called
HOLY FATHER, which is reserved for God alone, putting themselves in place of God on
earth and exalting themselves to a position where they should never be.
The word "anti" in antichrist also means "IN

PLACE OF" Christ. Now look at the following
quote from John Paul II:
"The leader of the Catholic church is defined

by the faith as the Vicar of Jesus Christ (and is
accepted as such by believers). The Pope is
considered the man on earth who TAKES
THE PLACE of the Second Person of the
omnipotent God of the Trinity." (John Paul II,
Crossing the Threshold of Hope, p. 3, 1994).
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NO ONE can take the place of our Blessed Saviour, no one! But the man of sin 'tries' to
take His place!
POPE FRANCIS OFFERS 'ABSOLUTION OF SIN' FOR WOMEN WHO ABORT

- Absolution of sin is something that God alone can do. But the pope tries to take the place
of God on earth!
So many people are looking in the wrong place for antichrist. We need to look in the
professed Christian church. We need to be looking at a religious system that has put itself IN
PLACE OF Christ on earth. This is antichrist.
Now what else does Paul say about this man of sin? He calls him the "son of
perdition". Did you know there is only one other person in the Bible with that name? JUDAS!
(John 17:12). Yes, that DECEIVER FROM WITHIN THE CHURCH! God is letting us know
that the man of sin would be just like Judas. Someone who is counted as "one of us", but
works for Satan.
Do you have eyes to see?
Look at this amazing picture too. What colors

does Revelation say that Babylon the Great is
clothed in? Purple and Scarlet (Revelation
17:4). And what are the main colors of the
cardinals and bishops of the Roman Church?
Purple and Scarlet! For more amazing
information about Babylon the Great, see our
Whore of Babylon study.
Now are we saying that Popes Francis and

Benedict are the man of sin? Yes, but it is not
JUST THEM. It involves all previous and future Popes who have exalted themselves into
this same position and also the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church. The man of sin
involves the whole SYSTEM of the Papacy. Just take a look at some of these quotes from
the Papal Church ...
"The Pope is not simply the representative of Jesus Christ. On the contrary, he is Jesus
Christ Himself, under the veil of the flesh." (Evangelical Christendom, January 1, 1895, pg.
15, published in London by J. S. Phillips)
"The Pope is of so great dignity, and so exalted that he is not a mere man, but as it were God
and the vicar of God." (Ferraris Ecclesiastical dictionary)
"The Pope and God are the same, so he has all power in Heaven and earth." (Pope Pius V,
quoted in Barclay, Chapter XXVII, p. 218, Cities Petrus Bertanous)
699
"The Saviour Himself is the door of the sheepfold: 'I am the door of the sheep.' Into this fold
of Jesus Christ, no man may enter unless he be led by the Sovereign Pontiff; and only if
they be united to him can men be saved, for the Roman Pontiff is the Vicar of Christ and His
personal representative on earth." (Pope John XXIII in his homily to the Bishops and faithful
assisting at his coronation on November 4, 1958)
Jesus Christ told us to call no man on earth our "Father" (Spiritual Father) for we have
only ONE Father who is in heaven (Matthew 23:9). The Papacy says, call the Pope HOLY
FATHER!
Jesus Christ says that salvation is ONLY found through Himself (Acts 4:12). The
Papacy says that salvation is ONLY found through the Roman Catholic Church!
Jesus Christ told us through Jeremiah not to make offerings to or worship the "Queen
of Heaven". The Papacy ENCOURAGES it's followers to make prayers, offerings and
worship to the Queen of Heaven (The Roman Catholic Mary).
The Roman Catholic Church is so clearly an apostate church.
This picture is showing the new Roman Catholic Priests laying prostrate to the Pope,
giving their honor and allegiance to him and the Roman church, and not God.
Friends, the Bible reveals the clear

truth about who the antichrist is. All of the
Protestant reformers knew the truth about the
man of sin and the Bible antichrist. Yes, this
is an unpopular teaching, but it's the TRUTH.
And if we decide to turn away from truth just
because it will make us unpopular, then we
are in effect turning away from Christ Jesus.
Satan is setting up a major deception for the last days, and he is using the Vatican and
the Roman Catholic Church to implement it. Please seek the truth and live by it. We are living
in perilous times.
Source: http://www.end-times-prophecy.org/man-of-sin-revealed.html
700
Five OT Passages That Refute Premillennialism
FIVE O.T PASSAGES

THAT REFUTE
PREMILLENNIALISM
701
FIVE OLD TESTAMENT PASSAGES THAT REFUTE PREMILLENNIALISM
No Passage/Verse Explanation
1. Daniel 2:44 Premillennialism teaches that that the kingdom has not been
established, but Daniel 2:44 set a limit of the establishment.
Wayne Jackson explained it in the following way:
The “kings” of the prophecy were Roman kings (the fourth
part of the image of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream [2:31ff]). The
Roman Empire came into dominance in 63 B.C. and it fell in
A.D. 476; hence, it follows that the kingdom of God was
established at some point between those two dates—or else
Daniel was a false prophet! There is no evidence that the
Roman Empire will be revived to accommodate Daniel’s
prediction (Jackson).
2. Joshua 21:43-45 Premillennialism teaches that the promise of Canaan’s land is
yet not fulfilled. However, Joshua 21:43-45 clearly says that
the Abrahamic promise of the land was fulfilled and that “all
came to pass” in regard to the land promise.
3. Zechariah 6:12-13 Premillennialism teaches that Christ will reign on earth.
However, Zechariah says that THE BRANCH (Isaiah 11:1;
53:2; Jeremiah 23:5) will be a king and priest and that He will
reign in His throne, which cannot be on earth (Hebrews 7:14;
8:4).
4. Isaiah 53:3 Premillennialism teaches that Christ failed because was
unexpectedly rejected. So, the kingdom was postponed.
However, Isaiah tells us that Christ rejection was prophesied,
and His death part of God’s Plan (53:5, 8).
5. Joel 2:28-32 Premillennialism teaches that the “The last days” are a time
such before the end of the world, also others say that are days
of prominence of wickedness. However, Peter (2:15-16) tells
us that the “last days” refer to the time of Acts chapter 2 until
the end of time.
702
Top 10 Reasons to Reject Premillennialism
TOP 10 REASONS TO
REJECT
PREMILLENNIALISM
703
TOP TENS REASONS TO REJECT PREMILLENNIALISM
No Reason
1 Premillennialism must be rejected because teaches that Christ is not reigning.

However, Peter explains that Christ is reigning (Acts 2:30-32)
2 Premillennialism must be rejected because denies the existence of the kingdom
of Christ. However, the New Testament teaches its existence. (Mark 9:1; Col.
1:13; Heb. 12:28; Rev. 1:10).
3 Premillennialism must be rejected because teaches that God did not fulfill the
land promise to Abraham. However, Joshua clearly explained that all was
fulfilled in regard to the land (Josh. 21:43-45; 23:14-16).
4 Premillennialism must be rejected because views the kingdom as an earthly,
political, and material kingdom. However, The New Testament clearly teaches
that the Kingdom of God is not of this world (John 18:36; 1 Cor. 15:50; Luke
17:20-21)
5 Premillennialism must be rejected because teaches that the Levitical priesthood
will be restored on earth, which makes Christ’s sacrifice of no effect (Hebrews
9:11-15, 27-28; 10:4)
6 Premillennialism must be rejected because makes the wrong interpretation of
the book of Revelation.
- They say the book has a future application, though, John states “shortly
come to pass (Rev. 1:1, 3; 22:6).
- Literal is figurative (2-3)
- Figurative is literal (6-19)
7 Premillennialism must be rejected because teaches that Christ was
“unexpectedly” rejected. However, Isaiah says that He was going to be rejected
(Isa 53: 5, 8; 1 Cor 15:1-5).
8 Premillennialism must be rejected because teaches that the church was not
predicted nor desired, it was plan B. However, the apostle inspired by the Holy
Spirit wrote that what God’s plan from the beginning of the world (Eph 3:9-11).
9 Premillennialism must be rejected because teaches that God stopped the
“prophetic clock.” However, they do such to fit their error. Daniel’s prophecy
indicates precision in the its fulfilment (Daniel 9:26-27).
10 Premillennialism must be rejected because maintains a distinction between Jew
and Gentile, giving advantage to Jews. However, Gal. 3:26-29 and Eph. 2:11-
22 tells us that God no longer recognizes differences between Jew and Gentile.
704

A Comprehensive Research On The Premillennialism Doctrine - Pablo Horna PDF

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A COMPREHENSIVE RESEARCH ON

A Research on the Premillennialism Doctrine

Memphis School of Preaching

1 CLASS NOTES ..................................................................................................................... 7

2 RULES FROM INTERPRETING PROPHECY. ........................................................... 15

21 TOP 10 REASONS TO REJECT PREMILLENNIALISM ......................................... 703

The definition of apocalyptic literature seems strange from the standpoint of

There can be a vast difference between non-canonical and canonical apocalypses. In

Premillennial Interpretation of Prophecy

The premillennial system of interpretation of Scripture interprets prophecy in the

(3) Doctrines resulting from premillennialism. This unyielding literalizing accounts

Premillennialism is not merely the literal interpretation of the millennium of

I. ESSENTIAL GUIDELINES FOR INTERPRETING PROPHECY

(1) Must accept figurative language of prophecy as well as literal language.

Conclusively the prophets used language other than literal.

(2) Interpretations of Old Testament prophecies:

It should be clear that no interpretation of an Old Testament prophecy can contradict

In one of Isaiah’s most famous prophecies (11:1-10), he described the character of

It is a rule which is seen to emerge from a systematic study of Scripture that an

II. PREMILIENNIAL INTERPRETATIONS AND THEIR FALLACIES

Dispensationalists view the church age as a kind of “parenthesis”18between the

Fallacies of Premillennial Reasoning

Fallacies of Premillennial Reasoning

(2b.) Genesis 17:11-14 says that circumcision was an “everlasting covenant” to be

Fallacies of Premillennial Reasoning

Fallacies of Premillennial Reasoning

Does premillennialism warrant the emphasis given in this-lectureship? Emphatically.

The religious programming that permeates the airwaves of America provides

PROBLEMS STUDYING THE OLD TESTAMENT

A proper understanding of a particular genre requires sensitivity to the nature of the

LITERAL OR FIGURATIVE EXPRESSIONS

The prophets, however, spoke also figuratively. We must understand that

A modern example of such a figurative expression would be to refer to an employee

A host of literary devices exist by which communication occurs. In English we

The Plain Sense Rule

Jesus is called “the rose of Sharon.” He is not referred to as “the tumbleweed of

The Importance of Context

An additional key to understanding prophecy is one that applies to all Scripture. It is

Another peculiar feature of prophetic literature is called “telescoping.” This occurs

Differing Views of the Bible

Among conservatives who regard the Bible as authoritative in prophecy as in history,

Major Schools of Interpretation

Clement, engrossed and charmed by Greek philosophy, applied this erroneous,

The third broad view of prophetic interpretation is postmillennialism. It holds that

Postmillennialism related to the optimism of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries

For students of prophecy seeking to weigh the relative cogency of premillennialism,

In general, conservative expositors have agreed on the literal interpretation of Scripture

Further Definition of the Interpretive Problem

Although it is generally agreed that amillennialism sprang from the theology of

Gilbert Bilezikian, professor of biblical studies at Wheaton College, is typical of those

Our approach to bib-lical hermeneutics assumes a supernatural view of the Bible as

The Hermeneutics of Predictive Prophecy

The interpretation of prophecy is involved espe-cially with prediction of events which

1. It is necessary first to reiterate a fundamental gen-eral rule of interpretation. Prophecy

The Special Hermeneutics of Apocalyptic Prophecy

The Year-Day Principle for the Interpretation of Numerical Prophecies

One of the more contro-versial principles of pro-phetic interpretation is the “year-

In all occurrences of the year-day symbolism, a period of judgment is pre-dicted,

(1) The Concept of The Kingdom/Church

(2) The Characteristics of The Kingdom/Church

Notice the following characteristics of the coming kingdom/church as described by

Oh, how we need to depend on God as Daniel did!

(4) The Continuation of The Kingdom/Church