END TIME ERROR

DANIEL’S SEVENTY WEEKS AND THE THIRD TEMPLE. In my last post, I stated that there are two errors that are shaping much of the end time teaching in our churches. Let’s remember that Satan is the ‘father of lies’ and is a deceiver. Ever since the resurrection he has known that his days of control over the earth are coming to an end. The best he can do is to prolong them. This he does by veiling the eyes of God’s people to the truth. One of those errors is what is known as ‘Daniel’s seventieth week’ i.e. that there is a period of seven years that God has reserved for dealings with the Jews. Christians will be taken out of the Earth during or before that time. Thus instead of being God’s agents of restoration in the Earth, many Christians are looking to escape from it.

In the time of Daniel, God’s people were in exile in Babylon because of their repeated rebellion against Him. The angel Gabriel came to Daniel with a message that gave Israel another chance. They would return to their Land and rebuild their temple in preparation for Messiah the Prince. The prophecy would commence with a command to restore Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, known later as the second temple or Ezra’s temple.

In this prophecy God tells Daniel:-

           

“Seventy weeks are determined for your people and for your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, to make reconciliation for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.” Daniel 9:24

The ‘weeks’ in the prophecy are weeks of years, so a week is seven years. According to this wrong teaching, only 69 weeks have been fulfilled and there is another week or seven years to go. They teach that between the 69^th and 70^th week, God has inserted the Church Age. When the Church is ‘raptured’ out, then comes the 70th ‘week’ of God’s dealings with Israel during the great tribulation. They believe that all the promises contained in vs. 24 have not yet been fulfilled.

Coupled with this idea of a 70^th ‘week’ yet to come is, what I believe is a MIS-interpretation of Daniel 9:27

 ”Then he shall confirm a covenant with many for one week;

but in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering.”

This interpretation goes like this: - ‘He’ in the sentence refers to the Antichrist. He makes a peace pact with Israel. After three and a half years, ‘in the middle of the week,’ he breaks the covenant and stops the sacrifices at the temple. From this they reason that a third Temple will have been built. This supposedly happens during the last ‘week’ or seven years of the prophecy given to Daniel, and will be a time of God’s special dealings with Israel – a time of great tribulation. Meanwhile Christians will be ‘raptured’ out to escape the tribulation and there is much speculation about whether this will be ‘pre-trib,’  ‘mid-trib,’ or ‘post-trib.’ This is the popular end time teaching in many evangelical and Pentecostal churches. It is a firmly held and rarely questioned belief, passed on from one generation to the next.

  The truth is that the seventy weeks were seventy consecutive weeks as you would normally expect. If God was intending to insert a long period of at least 2,000 years between the 69^th and 70^th week, one would expect some indication of it in the Scriptures. There is none. The ‘He’ in vs. 27 refers to Christ not the Antichrist. The seventieth ‘week’ was the week which included Jesus’s ministry. After 3 and a half years of ministry, In the ‘middle of the week,’ Jesus brought an end to the need for animal sacrifices, by making the one perfect sacrifice for all time. By His ministry and sacrificial death on the Cross He confirmed or strengthened the Abrahamic covenant, “The covenant that was confirmed before by God in Christ,” (Galatians 3:17) and in so doing, He fulfilled all the promises contained in vs 24. God has only one answer for this world’s condition, and that is the Cross of Christ. Anything that He is going to do was accomplished there. It is a finished work. We just haven’t understood the full extent of all that the Cross and resurrection has achieved. In these last days of the Church Age, God will bring revelation on the finished work of Christ which will cause the Church to rise up in Kingdom authority.

Jesus moved with a sense of purpose. He understood the plan of Redemption and worked within the will of the Father. He often said, “it is not time yet” or “My time is not yet come,” (e.g. John 7:6), because He was working to the plan. He said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”(Matthew 15:24). When He sent the disciples out He told them to go only to Israel. (Matthew 10:5:6) That is because the work of redemption had to be first demonstrated in Israel, the pattern and priestly and prophetic nation. During that seventieth ‘week,’ Jesus taught the principles of the Kingdom; He was crucified and resurrected; the Holy Spirit was poured out and the infant Church established. Then and only then, the word came to take the gospel to the Gentiles. (Acts 10) and Paul, who was to be the apostle to the Gentiles, was called and commissioned. The seventy weeks had been completed. There is no ‘seventieth week’ to be yet fulfilled.

When we see that, we can see that this teaching which occupies so much of our thinking about the end time is wrong. We can stop looking for an Antichrist to make and then break a pact with the Jews and stop watching for the third temple; it is not part of God’s plan. The third temple as far as God is concerned is the Living Temple which Christ is building as in Ephesians 2:21:22. The Jews may or may not build another temple but it is not a marker for a seven year count down to the 2^nd Coming, preceded by the ‘Rapture’ pre, or mid ‘trib.’ Jesus is not planning to snatch His people out of the world but to cause them to rise up in Victory over the forces of darkness which keep the world in bondage. 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17 [the ‘rapture’ scripture] is about the manner of the 2^nd Coming, when the Church will be caught up to meet the Lord and escort Him back to the throne.

On the night He was betrayed Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane for His disciples-

“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one.” John 17:15

God told Daniel that some end time truth is sealed until the time of the end; (Daniel 12:9) but about 200 years ago, there were those who went ahead of the Spirit and put together an end time scenario which doesn’t leave a lot of room for the Holy Spirit to bring revelation on the real plan of God for the Church. Getting raptured out any moment may sound exciting but what God really has for the Church is even more exciting.

Very soon a ‘Joshua’ generation will arise in the Earth that will bring down the ‘gates of Hell.’ [Mat 16:17,18] This is what God has been working towards since the promise in the Garden that the Seed of the Woman will crush the Serpent’s head. (Genesis 3:15).Christ and the Church is that Seed. This Seed is also the Seed of Abraham which will possess the gate of his enemies and be a blessing to the whole earth. (Genesis 22:17, 18)(Galatians 3:16, 29) If you belong to Jesus then you are part of this Overcoming Seed. Jesus has done all the work and is now seated at the Father’s right hand ‘waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.’ Hebrews 10:13. That’s our job!

A generation of the Seed of Abraham and the Seed of the Woman will rise up to our full potential in Christ. This is ‘Elijah’ that Jesus said would come and ‘restore all things’ before His 2^nd Coming. [Matthew 17:11]. In Acts 3:21 it says that the heavens must retain Jesus “until the times of the ‘restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.” This will happen any time from now to 2027. How I know that is for another time

The days ahead are days of the restoration of all things which God has been working towards for millennia. These are exciting times.  “Christ in you is the hope of glory.”

PROPHETIC FEASTS

Jesus’ brothers were preparing to go up to Jerusalem to the Feast of Tabernacles. They challenged Jesus to go up and “Show Yourself to the world.” Jesus replied:-

“My time has not yet come, but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it that its works are evil. You go up to this feast, I am not yet going up to this feast, for My time has not yet fully come.” John 7: 6-8

After His brothers had left, Jesus went up to the feast secretly and about the middle of the feast He went into the temple and taught. The Pharisee’s wanted to arrest Him but could not “for His time had not yet come.” On the last day, that great day of the feast, as water was poured out from a golden pitcher onto the altar to the rejoicing of the crowds, Jesus revealed Himself openly as the One who provides the living water of the Spirit.

Throughout His ministry, Jesus moved with a sense of purpose. He was obviously conscious that He was fulfilling prophecy as encrypted into the feasts of Israel. That’s why He rode into Jerusalem on the exact day of the choosing of the Passover Lamb and was acclaimed by the crowds. When told by the Pharisees to silence them He replied that if the people were silent the stones would cry out. This was the time for the Lamb of God to be chosen and to give His life for the world and nothing would stop it.

Jesus died at the time of the sacrifice of the Passover lamb up at the temple; His body went into the tomb as the Feast of Unleavened Bread began; and He rose on the Feast of Firstfruits to be ‘the firstfruits of them that slept.’ The Holy Spirit was poured out exactly on the Day of Pentecost – the anniversary of the giving of the Law and the plans for the tabernacle. This Feast was about equipping the people of God to fulfil their commission.

The one Feast that has never been fulfilled in the Church is the Feast of Tabernacles. This is the Feast of fullness, the final harvest when God will bring into manifestation all that the Cross has purchased. All the seeds that have been sown will come to harvest. The Church will rise to its full potential in Christ and there will be a mighty harvest of souls. ‘Elijah’ will come and restore all things [Matthew 17:11] i.e. the Spirit which anointed Elijah will come upon the Church to prepare the way of the Lord as He came upon John the Baptist to prepare the way for Jesus’ 1^st coming. It will be a glorious time and it’s about to begin in a few short years.

Jesus moved in sync with the Feasts of Israel. Those Feasts were set into the history of Israel as a road map for the Church. Therefore if we look at what Jesus did at the time of the Feast of Tabernacles, we will have some clues about what Jesus will be doing during the season of the fulfilment of this Feast. Jesus made the point that He could not go up to the Feast any time as others could. He wasn’t just another worshipper; He was the central figure of what the Feast was all about. Jesus went up secretly. What is that saying? Jesus will be coming to the Feast but it will not be the time for Him to be openly revealed. Of course Jesus is always with His Church but at the End time fulfilment of the Feast, there will be a greatly increased sense of the Presence of the Lord.

About the middle of the Feast, Jesus went up into the temple and taught. The temple stands for the people of God. They are the Living temple that Jesus is building even now. At this time the Church will come greatly alive with the Word of God; we will be of one mind with Jesus the Head. This is the glorious Church spoken of in Ephesians 5:25,26

“that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.”

The Church will move with power and authority and be filled with the love and the Presence of God.  There will be great healings and creative miracles, like limbs being restored, and the world will flow into it.

On the last great day of the Feast Jesus revealed Himself openly and proclaimed Himself as the fount of Living Water and gave the invitation,

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scriptures has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.”  John 7:37, 38

Foreshadowing the invitation at the end of the Age as in Revelation,

“And the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the waters of life freely.” Revelation 22:17

Jesus will come physically and openly at the end of the season of the fulfilment of the Feast of Tabernacles in the Church. It will undoubtedly be “On the last day, that great day of the Feast.” John 7:17.

Jesus, the king once despised and rejected, will be welcomed with great rejoicing and celebration and will reign on the Earth. AMEN

ELIJAH COMES FIRST

Jesus is Coming but....
ELIJAH COMES FIRST

 The time is coming, and very soon, when this sin-spoiled Earth will be cleansed, restored, and filled with the Glory of God. In Acts 3:19–21, we read that the heavens must retain Jesus, “until the time of the restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began” (emphasis added).

Some might say this means that when Jesus comes again He will restore all things. However, Jesus Himself said that the work of restoration involves the mysterious appearance of “Elijah.” The disciples Peter, James, and John had been on the Mount of Transfiguration with Jesus. They had seen Him talking to Moses and Elijah and heard the voice from Heaven. [Matthew 17:1-13].Their minds must have turned to the prophecy at the close of the Old Testament Scriptures:

Behold I send you Elijah the prophet

Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord

And he will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children

And the hearts of the children to their fathers,

Lest I come and strike the earth with a curse. (Malachi 4:6)

This prophecy was kept before Israel at the annual Passover celebration when a cup of wine was placed on the table for Elijah in anticipation of his return. There were four cups of wine which were drunk in conjunction with four promises of deliverance. They were:

1. “I will take you out.”

2. “I will save you.”

3. “I will redeem you.”

4. “I will take you as a nation.”

There was a fifth promise, “I will take you into the Land,” and a fifth cup which is never drunk. This is the cup of Elijah. (Is this the ‘fruit of the vine’ which He will drink when the kingdom comes that He spoke of at the Last Supper? Luke 22:18)

Even though Israel eventually possessed the Promised Land, they look for a greater deliverance which is yet to come. Elijah will herald the coming of the Messiah and they will possess the Land in peace. It was the promise of a golden age when Messiah would sit on the throne in Jerusalem and rule the Earth. When Elijah comes, they believe, he will explain fully the meaning of the fifth cup.

Seeing Elijah on the mountaintop and remembering the prophecy, the disciples must have thought that the day of the Messiah had come. When Jesus instructed them not to tell of the vision until after the resurrection, they asked, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

Jesus replied, “Elijah truly is coming first and will restore all things” (Matthew 17:10, 11; emphasis added). He went on to say that Elijah had already come, referring to John the Baptist who came “in the spirit and power of Elijah to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17).

John’s appearance on the stage of history was a partial fulfillment of the prophecy. It was a sign that restoration had begun. The ministry of Elijah is not yet complete. At the time Jesus spoke, John was dead. Yet Jesus said that Elijah was still to come and would restore all things. Elijah was the great prophet of the Spirit in the Old Testament. By the anointing of the Spirit upon him, Elijah challenged the Prophets of Baal―satanic powers of darkness of the day―and turned the nation back to God. Jesus’ reference to Elijah here is not the literal return of the Old Testament Prophet but the Spirit coming on human flesh to restore all things and prepare the way for the Second Coming of the Lord. Elijah will turn the world back to God.

The restoration of all things has already been accomplished in seed form at the Cross.

For it pleased the Father that in Him [Jesus] all the fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, by Him, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross. (Colossians 1:19, 20; emphasis added)

When Jesus said “It is finished,” that work of reconciliation was completed. It is an accomplished fact in the realm of the Spirit. We can bind and loose on Earth that which is already bound and loosed in Heaven (or in the realm of the Spirit). Reconciliation becomes restoration in the Earth when it is claimed by faith, e.g., a sinner is born again by the Spirit of God when he believes that Jesus has died to reconcile him to God. That reconciliation was accomplished two thousand years ago but it has to be appropriated. So it is with all that was accomplished at the Cross.

God continues to bring restoration whenever and wherever faith is exercised. The greater the revelation of the reconciling work of the Cross that we have, the greater the measure of restoration will be. That’s why it is crucial to have an ongoing vision. The reconciliation of all things will be manifested as the restoration of all things when Elijah comes, Elijah being the Spirit of God coming in fullness upon the people of God in these last days. The Holy Spirit continues to lead and guide us into all truth and reveal things to come to all who are open to receive. When Elijah comes, the Church will enter into all that Jesus accomplished at His first coming. All things will be restored and Jesus will return to take up His throne on Earth. All of creation is waiting for that time.

For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. (Romans 8:19–21)

In Biblical history, we find that Creation reflects the spiritual state of man. The Fall corrupted all of nature. When wickedness increased on the Earth, it resulted in the Flood, which again radically changed the face of the Earth. It has been shown in the Transformations video series hosted by George Otis Jr. that when revival takes place, even the surrounding area is renewed, pollution and corruption recede and the Earth begins to flourish. The answer to the climate crisis the world faces is to change the spiritual climate of Planet Earth.

All of God’s dealings with Man have been toward the Restoration. It is the message “which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began” (Acts 3:21). Restoration sometimes requires cleansing and chastening but the goal hasn’t changed. In the face of all the chaos on Earth caused by Man’s rebellion, God still wants the message of Restoration to be declared. In the following passage, we can sense something of the burden of God’s heart when His servants don’t deliver the message.

“Hear, you deaf; and look, you blind, that you may see.

Who is blind but My servant, or deaf as My messenger whom I send?

Who is blind as he who is perfect, and blind as the Lord’s servant?

Seeing many things, but you do not observe; opening the ears, but he does not hear.”

The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness’ sake;

He will magnify the law and make it honourable

But this is a people robbed and plundered; all of them are snared in holes,

And they are hidden in prison houses;

They are for prey, and no one delivers;

For plunder, and no one says “Restore!” (Isaiah 42:18–22; emphasis added)

We are living in a day in which, increasingly, the people are prey to all the snares and evil devices of our spiritual enemy. Captive of his deceit, plundered and robbed to build his anti-God kingdom, the world seems headed towards destruction. In the face of all this, God still wants the message of Restoration declared on Earth. The messengers see and hear many things, and there is much speculation, but there are not many saying “Restore.” Mostly the message is “Retreat” (or, “Rapture at any moment”). Most messengers are preparing to abandon the Earth to the ravages of the enemy.

God gave His beloved Son to the Earth to be the means of restoration. Speaking prophetically of the One Who was to come, God said “I will preserve You and give You as a covenant to the people, To restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages” (Isaiah 49:8). (emphasis mine).

Jesus came to reconcile ALL things to God (Colossians 1:20). The full effects of the Cross are yet to be manifested in the Earth. The restoration of all things will come to pass. Meanwhile, wherever the people of God lay hold of the reconciling work of the Cross, the process of restoration continues: broken lives, broken families, even broken communities can experience restoration.

So according to the Scriptures, Jesus will not come again until the times of the restoration of all things, which God has spoken of since the world began. Since the Fall, this is what God has been working towards. Jesus said that this work of restoration is to be accomplished by ‘Elijah” who will come first.

Before the first coming of the Lord, the spirit and power of Elijah came upon John the Baptist to prepare the way: Before the Lord comes again, the Spirit will come upon the Church to bring restoration and to prepare the way for His coming again to reign over the Earth. This is ‘Elijah’ who is to come – the Spirit of God upon the Redeemed to bring into manifestation the work of reconciliation accomplished at the Cross.

Most Christians are waiting for Jesus to come back and do all the work; however his work is finished. He is seated at the right hand of God waiting for his enemies to be made his footstool. (Hebrews 10:12 -14) Christ in you is the hope of God’s glory filling the Earth. (Colossians 1: 27) In the coming great revival, ‘Elijah’ will stand up in the Earth and scatter the powers of darkness He will usher in the Age of the Kingdom and reign of the King. Amen. Come Lord Jesus. 

 

 

A TRUMPET SOUNDS - FIGHT OR FLIGHT?

A TRUMPET SOUNDS – FLIGHT OR FIGHT?

 

In the midst of all the clamour of “wars and rumours of wars” and the terrorist threat, Christians all over the world are hearing a trumpet call – an alarm – sounding with increasing urgency – a signal to prepare. The question is, prepare for what? 

 

Some are certain that it heralds the soon return of the Lord to snatch away the Church in the “Rapture” so they are getting ready for flight.  What a relief!  Jesus is coming to take us away from it all, while the rest of the world descends into utter chaos and the horror of the Great Tribulation.  We are told that no prophecy remains to be fulfilled before this great event.  Jesus could come at any minute now.  Scores of books and videos are on the market with graphic descriptions of what could be the fate of those unfortunate enough to be “left behind”.

 

There is no doubt that this is the popular interpretation of the trumpet sound.  A flight to the Heavens is much more appealing to our sense of self-preservation than hanging on in this old world the way things are shaping up.   Pack your bags, prepare to leave any minute now!

 

Others are hearing the trumpet differently.  No, that’s not the call for “Retreat.”  The trumpet is sounding:-

“Proclaim this among the nations

Prepare for war!

Wake up the mighty men,

Let all the men of war draw near,

Let them come up.”  Joel 3:9

 

So they are getting ready for fight.  Rouse the Army, check out the armour, sharpen the sword!  The Battle is upon us with the promise of great and glorious Victory.

 

So who is right? And does it matter?  What’s the difference?  There is an old joke which says “I’m not pre- millennium or  post- millennium, I’m pan millennium – I believe it will all pan out in the end.”  In other words it doesn’t matter what we believe about the end time.

I would suggest that it matters a great deal whether the Army is getting ready for retreat or for advance.  It is no longer good enough to be vague about it all.  God works in the world through His people and they need to hear loud and clear what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

 

If your Eschatology is Escapology, please for Jesus’ sake hear me out.  It could be that God has an even greater destiny for the church than what we have imagined previously - a destiny that gives greater glory to the Cross of Christ than the popularised retreat scenario. 

As for the assertion that all is fulfilled that has to be fulfilled before the Lord comes – The Word of God tells us that:-

 

Jesus is coming for a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle’ [Ephesians 5:26]

That hasn’t happened yet.

The Body of Christ is to rise to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.[Ephesians 4:13]

That hasn’t happened yet.

Jesus is waiting till His enemies are made His footstool [Hebrews 10:13]               pg2

That hasn’t happened yet.

The heavens must retain Jesus until the time of restoration of all things [Acts 3:21]

And “Elijah” must come first and restore all things.  Matthew 17:11

That hasn’t happened yet.

Jesus prayed that His Church be one, that the world may believe [John 17;21]

That hasn’t happened yet.  Will any prayer of Jesus go unanswered?

The Church has to kick down the Gates of Hell [Matthew 16:18,19]

That hasn’t happened yet.  The whole sense of this great promise of Jesus is that it is the Church that is to be on the offensive, not on the defensive.

 

It may be a good idea to stow away the suitcase and start sharpening the sword after all.

 

Perhaps you might think that I just don’t know my Bible or haven’t been taught correctly.  I cut my Christian teeth on the Rapture- at- any- moment teaching and swallowed it charts and all.  However as one of my favourite hymns says “The Lord has yet more light and truth to break forth from His Word.”  More light and truth are there for those who will ask, seek, and knock. I did, and what I discovered blew the old theory to bits.

Now don’t misunderstand me.  I believe in a “Rapture” as is plainly stated in 1 Thess. 4:15-17.  As to when it takes place is another matter.  If you read the passage carefully you will note that nowhere does it say that the Church is taken back to Heaven.  It simply says that we shall always be with the Lord, and as another old hymn says “Where Jesus it, ‘tis Heaven there.”  Why would a Christian want to be anywhere else?

Think of the time when Jesus rode into Jerusalem that last Passover week.  “A great multitude” went out to meet Him and escort Him into the city. [John 12:12,13 also Luke 19:37-41]. That was and is, the way to welcome a King.  What “rapture” it will be indeed to go out and meet the King of Kings and escort Him to the throne.  The first time His throne was a Cross, the next time it will be the throne of the Eternal Kingdom.  Bring in the Day!  “Blessed is He Who comes in the Name of the Lord!”

 

 

Perhaps it would be helpful to explore the reason why we currently have “flight” and “fight” camps in the Army.  Yes there is another camp – they haven’t heard any trumpet call at all.  There is a saying that there are three kinds of people; those who watch things happen, those who make things happen and those who haven’t a clue what’s happening.

The “flight” camp are those who watch things happen.  They are “watching and waiting, looking above.”  When the Lord comes hasn’t got anything to do with them.  He will sovereignly come when He sovereignly chooses.  They are also closely watching the political scene and world developments which hold all the necessary clues to the arrival of that great moment when they will leave it all behind.

Then there is the “fight” camp.  They believe that they can make things happen – they are here to be history makers not history watchers.  They believe that they can, not only look for, but actually hasten the Day of God [2Peter 3:12]. In their understanding, Jesus won’t come until they’ve done the job He set the Church to do.  The flight camp would call them presumptuous.

Then there is the third camp who have become “dull of hearing” [Hebrews 5:11].  They haven’t heard anything out of the ordinary yet and aren’t expecting to.  They are not looking for flight at any moment and neither are they looking to fight either.  Trumpet!  What Trumpet? Battle! What Battle? They would probably call both the other camps  “presumptuous.”

 

Christians are hearing the trumpet differently because we have trained and strained our spiritual ears for different sounds depending on our interpretation of end-time events.  All would agree that the climax of history is when Jesus sits on the throne and the Kingdom comes on Earth as it is in Heaven.  What part the Church plays in Earth History leading up to this great and glorious event, is where the controversy lies.

 

The Church has always moved forward by revelation.  This is in accordance with Jesus’ promise that the Holy Spirit would continue to guide us into all truth and show us things to come.  [John 16:13]  As the cloud of God’s glory led His people Israel to their destination in the Promised Land, so in Church History, God has led His Church by His Spirit, bringing more revelation from His Word. 

“Surely the Lord does nothing,

Unless He reveals His secret to His servants the Prophets”  Amos 3:7

 

Denominations were formed because some people moved into new revelation of the Word, while others continued to camp around the last great truth and were closed to any further revelation - the “all truth” that Jesus promised had already been attained – anything else had to be heresy at worst or misguided at best.

 

Any revelation that is of God always sheds more light on the Cross, and what was accomplished there on our behalf. The Cross is God’s only answer and the sole means through which the Kingdom comes.  Anything that God does in the Earth has already been accomplished in seed form at the Cross.  Any “revelation” which is not according to this principle is suspect.

 

As I searched the Word for end-time answers, everything I discovered was pointing to glory and victory ahead for the Church.  Nowhere could I fit what I had been taught about the end times, into what I was discovering.  The Scriptures reveal that the Church of the last days will be a warrior Church filled with the glory of God, overcoming the enemy.  It will do what the “flight camp” is waiting for Jesus to do – vanquish the Enemy and establish the Kingdom. 

What brings more glory to Jesus – a victorious Church or a weak trembling Church waiting to be rescued?  I am convinced that Jesus intended total victory for His Church, and nothing less than total victory will do justice to the Cross.  Is leaving the world and its inhabitants behind to the mercy of the Enemy, total victory?

  Something of what I discovered in my search through the Scriptures, resulted in the book “The Fall of the Gates of Hell” but there is yet much more.  If it is the Spirit of Truth which is teaching us we should expect that He is also teaching the same things to others who are searching.  I was excited to discover the writings of Bill Britton who in turn records sharing with others of like mind.  What I had discovered was not new but it had been overshadowed by the more popular theory of the Rapture of the Church at any moment.

 

It was in Bill’s writings “The Rapture of the Church. What is it?” that I found out more about the origin of the teaching, something that I had been rather vague about.

According to Bill, the theory had its origins in 1830 through a prophecy by a young Scottish girl named Margaret MacDonald and also a similar prophecy by a Mrs Cardale a year later.  This “revelation” found its way into a book by R. N. Norton published in 1861.  Edward Irvine, founder of the Irvinites accepted and taught the new teaching and it was espoused by John Darby a leader in the Plymouth Brethren.   

 

    It eventually became enshrined in the notes of the Schofields Bible and became to some people as authoritative as Holy Writ.  Prior to this it had always been preached that the Church would go through all tribulation victoriously, and bring in the kingdom. As in:-

 

Stand up, stand up for Jesus, as soldiers of the cross;

Lift high His royal banner, it must not suffer loss;

From victory on to victory, His army He shall lead,

Till every foe is vanquished, and Christ is Lord indeed.”  AHB 509  [my emphasis]

 

So it was not a matter of new revelation arising out of the Word, but rather the new “revelation” being accepted and portions of the Scriptures being slotted into a new timetable or a chart.  The Bible was put through the “dispensational” filter, with some scriptures being relegated to “only for the apostolic age”’ and some being “only for the Jews.” In one publication, I read that Man fails in every dispensation from Adam to the Second Coming including the dispensation of Grace.  To say that Man under Grace fails is equivalent to saying that the Cross fails.  Never!  In the Cross God has made every provision for His Church to overcome the enemy and establish Kingdom. 

Jesus has done all that is necessary.  We just have not understood the magnitude of our salvation.  As previously stated all true revelation brings light on the Cross.  That’s where the victory was won.  It is the church’s privilege and responsibility to enforce that victory and bring in the Kingdom. 

The Cross was and is about, much more than getting us to Heaven when we die, wonderful as that may be. The Cross reversed the curse which came upon the earth.  Now if you’re an evolutionist and the Fall of Man is just a myth, then your concept of what the Cross restored will be limited. But if you believe, [as I do after much research]  in an original perfect Creation and a literal Fall, then you will be able to grasp more fully what the Cross has restored.  There is no aspect of salvation that is not covered by the Cross..

 

The state of Creation reflects the spiritual state of Man,.  That’s why, Paul states in Romans 8:19-21 that the whole creation groans and waits for the revealing of the sons of God, because then it will be delivered from corruption into liberty.  Most Christians read this passage in their minds as the creation waiting for the Second Coming, but that’s not what it says. Could it be that creation is waiting for the sons of God to stand up and BE the sons of God.

Dominion over the earth was given to Man at creation.. 

God said “Let us make Man in Our image, and let them have dominion…”  Genesis 1:26.  That dominion was handed over to the enemy at the Fall, with the resultant corruption of the Earth..

 Jesus’ mission was to take the authority which the enemy had usurped and restore it to  redeemed Man.

In giving the Great Commission, Jesus said,

 

 “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”    {Matthew 28:18-20] 

 

The Church has indeed gone into all the world in obedience to the command and multiplied millions have come into the Kingdom.  Disciples have been made from most nations.  And yet is this the full scope of the Great Commission?

What would happen if God’s people fully exercised their God-given authority over the enemy?

He is “the god of this age” – the one who has corrupted the earth and the lives of its inhabitants.  God still “so loves the world” and gave His Son for everyone.

 

Jesus has finished what He came to do and it is sufficient for what remains to be done.

 

 “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.  For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.” Hebrews 10:12-14

 

What authority will Jesus have when He come again that He doesn’t already have?

None!  He already has all authority in heaven and earth, and has delegated that authority to the Church His Body.

As Man He delivered us from the kingdom of darkness and put the destiny of earth in our hands again. We have been waiting for Jesus to come back and do what He has commissioned us to do.  But the Word says He is waiting for His enemies [the principalities and powers of darkness] to be made His footstool.

 

In Psalm 2  God says

“Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance,

And the ends of the earth for Your possession.”

 

Prayer is the battleground on which we wrestle the enemy for the nations and the ends of the earth for the Kingdom. Even now thousands are coming into the Kingdom in answer to prayer especially among the Muslims. Great things are happening. There are many books out about the frightening things that are coming upon the Earth and most of them assert that the Church will be gone up in the

'Rapture' before things get really rough. How many of your loved ones will be 'left behind?.' If you had the choice would you stay and fight for them? That's exactly what the Army of God is here to do. We are here to bring down the Gates of Hell and release the captives.

 

"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because the Lord has anointed Me to preach good tidings to the poor...to heal the brokenhearted....to proclaim liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to those who are bound...to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord..."  Isaiah 61:1,2

 

Join the battle; Victory is assured. 

 

It's time! the trumpet is sounding

It's time! to prepare for war

It's time to march around Jericho

Walking in the Glory of the Lord.

 

It's time! to break down the barriers

It's time for Unity restored

It's time to overcome the enemy

Walking in the Glory of the Lord.

 

It's time! the Captain is waiting,

It's time to buckle on the Sword

It's time to possess the Kingdom

Walking in the Glory of the Lord.

 From a poem by Val

 

 

THE RAPTURE RUMOUR Part 2

So how did this Rapture rumour get started? The following short history is gleaned from a paper by Elwin Roach called “The Rapture Question.”

 

          A man called J. Preston Eby who researched the subject states that there was no significant body of believers that taught a rapture prior to a seven year tribulation till the early to mid 1800’s.

 

          At the time of the Reformation, Protestants were convinced that the Pope was the antichrist and the Catholic Church the Harlot system, which teaching drew many believers out of the Roman Catholic Church. To counteract this, Catholic theologians taught “futurism” - the belief that the events of Revelation would take place in a very short period at the end of the age. This was popularised by a Jesuit priest called Ribera.

 

          Later, another Jesuit priest named Emmanuel Lacunza wrote a book called “The Coming of Messiah in Glory and Majesty” which took up this teaching. He wrote under the name of Rabbi Ben Ezra, supposedly a converted Jew, which gave the book acceptance among Protestants. In the book he wrote that Jesus’ Coming is in two stages. He comes first in a secret rapture for His Church so they could escape the reign of the future antichrist.

Edward Irvine a leader of the Catholic Apostolic Church discovered Lacunza’s book and translated it into English. He began preaching the Secret Rapture of the Saints. John Darby from the Brethren movement took up the teaching and also wrote prolifically about it. Derby developed and organized “futurism” into a system of teaching called “dispensationalism.” In this teaching, the Church age climaxed in the Secret Rapture followed later by the 2^nd Coming of Christ to the Earth.

 

          A Congregationalist preacher named Scofield came under the influence of this teaching and it became enshrined in the notes of The Scofield Reference Bible which influences many Protestant churches. Many ardent preachers of the Rapture today would be mortified to know that it began with the writings of a Jesuit priest. Scofield influenced D.L. Moody who influenced the Pentecostal movement. Moody was a very influential Christian with solid Biblical beliefs, but God was moving on and Moody like many others didn’t accept the new teaching of a personal Pentecost.

 

          When the Assemblies of God were formed in the early 1900’s they brought teaching materials from Moody Press and added to it the teaching of the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Bill Britton wrote that he was astonished to find that he was being taught from a book that said that speaking in tongues was from the devil. The Assemblies of God accepted and taught The Secret Rapture doctrine from that same book.

 

          (Comment: Since the Holy Spirit is given to lead us into all truth, one wonders why they accepted without question, a teaching of the end times which was held by people who didn’t believe that the gifts and manifestations of the Spirit were for today. The focus of the Pentecostals at that time was naturally enough, to teach the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. Now God is moving on again towards the final Feast. It remains to be seen whether ongoing revelation will again meet with resistance as it usually does. The truth of Pentecost was and is, still resisted be many in the mainline denominations though it can be plainly seen in the Scriptures)

 

          Around 1830 a young Scottish girl named Margaret MacDonald purported to have a revelation of the coming of the Lord before the tribulation. It is said that Derby borrowed and modified her revelation.                                                              

 

          (Comment: I have read Margaret MacDonald’s account and find it quite enigmatic. It lends itself just as well to the coming of the Lord by His Spirit in power IN His people before the 2^nd Coming which I believe is what the Bible teaches and is what I have written about.. e.g. She states “I saw the error to be, that men think that it will be something seen by the natural eye; but ’tis spiritual discernment that is needed, the eye of God in His people.” and “I felt that the revelation of Jesus Christ had yet to be opened up – it is not knowledge about God that it contains, but it is an entering into God” “I saw that there was a glorious breaking in of God to be.” Amen! But this is not necessarily a Rapture, only to those who want to make it so. She seems to be a very spiritual young lady who no doubt had a revelation of a Coming of the Lord, which was taken by some to affirm the teaching of a “Secret Rapture.”)

 

          In John 7 Jesus gives us a clue to this secret coming IN His Church in a powerful way. It was the time of the Feast of Tabernacles – the final Feast of the religious calendar and yet to be fulfilled in the Church. Jesus’ brothers were going up to Jerusalem to the Feast and expected Him to go with them. Jesus told them that His time has not yet fully come. However, after His brothers had left, Jesus went also “not openly, but as it were in secret.”v10.  About the middle of the Feast He went up into the temple and taught v14. On the last day, “that great day of the feast” Jesus stood and proclaimed Himself openly. This shows, I believe that Jesus will certainly be coming to the end-time Feast of Tabernacles, but not openly till the end.

 

          Again, Jesus spoke of a Coming to His disciples saying,

“A little while, and you will not see Me; and again a little while, and you will see Me, because I go to the Father.” John 16:16

 

Earlier He had said,

         

          “I will not leave you orphans, I will come to you.” John 14:18

 

He came on the Day of Pentecost. This was a Coming of the Lord. He came to live in His people by His Spirit. There will without doubt be a visible Coming of the Lord when He will come “with clouds, and every eye will see Him,” (Revelation 1:7) “in like manner as (the disciples) saw Him go into heaven.”(Acts 1:11) In the meantime there will be “Comings” when the Lord rises up in His people by His Spirit.

 

          It is likely that this is the kind of Coming of which Margaret MacDonald had a revelation and which I believe will happen at the end of the age before His visible return to reign on the Earth.

 

          Whatever has been taught or prophesied, the litmus test is; do the Scriptures support a secret Rapture.  Let’s look at the Scriptures used by those who teach it:-

 

          Probably the main Scripture used is 1 Thessalonians 4:14-18. There is certainly nothing secret about this Coming. The Lord will descend from heaven “with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God.” This undoubtedly is the Second Coming of the Lord and would be accepted as such by all Christians if there were no teaching of a secret Rapture interpolated upon it.

 

           Paul is reminding the Thessalonians that their loved ones who have died are with the Lord and He will bring them with Him when He returns. (v14) He then goes on to speak about the Second Coming. The bodies of those who have died in Christ (those who are coming with Him) will be resurrected first, then Christians who are alive will rise together with them to meet Jesus as He returns to the Earth. This is indeed a Rapture but nowhere does it say we will all then go back to Heaven. It simply says that we will always be with the Lord. Where is He going to be?  Right here on the Earth.

         

          When Christ comes into this Earth’s atmosphere in all His resurrected glory, the whole Earth will be renewed including the dead bodies of the saints.  This is the time of “the restoration of all things” (Acts 3:21) Why would those who have all this time been with the Lord in Heaven, suddenly need their resurrected bodies if they’re going back there? We will need our bodies, resurrected and glorified, to live in this restored earthly realm. The story doesn’t end in Heaven; it ends right here on the Earth. It will be an Earth restored to its original state or better – an extension of Heaven. Jesus will be here, Heaven will be here, the city of God will be here; why would you want to be anywhere else?

 

This plainly is a scripture about the Second Coming, not a Secret Rapture.

 

          1 Corinthians 15:51-58 Another Second Coming scripture. This is clearly describing the same event as in the Thessalonians passage. Both these scriptures are claimed to be about the Secret Rapture by dispensationalists. Note that this event is at “the last trumpet.” The unlikely explanation is given that this means the last of two trumpets sounded at this time – one to raise the dead and one to change the living. This is obviously the same “trumpet of God” as in the Thessalonians passage. Trumpets were sounded for a number of reasons including assembling the people and to announce the arrival of a king as in 1 Kings 1:34.

 

          Revelation 4:1,2 This is a clear instance of making the scriptures fit an already arrived at position. Those who hold the popular end time scenario state that when it comes to the Book of Revelation, what can be taken literally is literal and what cannot be taken literally should be taken to be symbolic.  Yet they do not apply that principle to this scripture. John is seen as symbolic of the Church. John is caught up (whether in or out of the body we do not know). He records what he sees. He comes back.There is absolutely no warrant to say that this is the Rapture of the Church.  Dispensationalists do so to get the Church out of the way before what they perceive as the Great Tribulation in Revelation chapters 6 - 18, and in order to fit in with their theory. John is having an experience similar to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12, where he was lifted up to the third Heaven where he saw things “unlawful for a man to utte.r” No  one would suggest that, Paul’s experience was the Rapture of the Church and neither was John’s experience. A point which they make to support their theory is that the word “church” is not mentioned after Revelation 4:1. In fact though the word “church” may not be written, the Church is present all the way through the book of Revelation.

 

          2 Thessalonians 2:2-8  This passage has been used by some to prove that the Church is taken away in the Rapture before the Antichrist is revealed.  The key question is ‘Who or what is the Restrainer?’ Is it the Church as Dispensationalists teach? In verse 6 the Restrainer is neutral indicating a force, and in verse 7, it is masculine, indicating an individual. There are a number of suggestions as to the identity of the Restrainer who is keeping the Antichrist is check. Some say that it is the Roman system of government which is why Paul is being necessarily vague; others believe that it refers to the Holy Spirit or to God Himself. The NKJV appears to support the later as the passage reads “only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way.” Use of capitals for the pronouns indicates that they are referring to Deity. Paul clearly expected the Thessalonians to understand who or what he meant as he had previously spoken about this when he was with them (vs5). However the scripture is too unclear for anyone to dogmatically state who or what the Restrainer is. The passage is far too ambiguous to use it to support a doctrine of a pre-tribulation Rapture.

         

          My own thoughts on the matter are as follows. During His ministry there were a number of times when Jesus’ life was threatened (e.g. John 10:31, Luke 4:28-30) However the opposing forces were restrained. It was not the time for Jesus to die; but when the right time came, Jesus went to the Cross. To those who came to arrest Him He said “But this is your hour and the power of darkness.” God kept Jesus from the power of darkness till the time came when He would confront them and win the victory.  The power of darkness had its day but Jesus emerged victorious.

          God is building a great Army which will come against the enemy and enforce the victory of the Cross. This Army will bring down the gates of Hell. Until His church is ready those dark forces are kept in check. I have heard prophecies which confirm this.

                                                                        ******

In teaching a Secret Rapture, the translation of two Old Testament prophets is often pointed to as an example -Enoch and Elijah. The translation of Enoch is recorded in Genesis 5:24

         

          “And Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.”

 

Enoch is listed as one of the heroes of faith. 

 

By faith Enoch was translated so that he did not see death…..for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.” Hebrews11:5

 

           Enoch was a godly man who made two prophecies that can be gleaned from Scripture. The first was at the age of 65 when his son was born. Enoch called him “Methuselah.” The name means “When he is finished, it will come” or “When he is finished, judgement.” It was a prophecy of the great flood. From the genealogies at the end of Genesis chapter 5, we can see that Methuselah lived 969 years. He was 187 when Lamech was born and Lamech was 182 when Noah was born. The flood came when Noah was 600 years old (Genesis 7:11) all of which adds up to 969 years, the age of Methuselah. He died in the year of the Flood as Enoch prophesied. This is one of the many hidden truths in the Bible which testify to its divine inspiration. God in His mercy and long-suffering extended Methuselah’s life beyond any other man’s before He sent judgement upon the Earth. He is “not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9

 

          Enoch’s second prophecy is found in Jude:-

         

“Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied …saying, ‘Behold the Lord comes with ten thousands of His saints, to execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds….’” Jude 14;15

 

Hebrews tells us that Enoch was translated by faith. Faith comes by hearing a word (a rhema) from God (Romans 10; 17). Enoch had a rhema from God, very likely a vision, in which he saw the 2^nd Coming – the Lord coming “with ten thousands of His saints.” He saw that men would go to heaven. It was a faith-imparting rhema and God took him up to be the first.

 

          Elijah, the great prophet of the Spirit in the Old Testament, was taken to heaven in a whirlwind. (2 Kings 2:11) This was a prophetic happening which pointed to the Lord’s ascension into Heaven. Elisha, who was to be his successor, requested a double portion of the Spirit which rested on Elijah. He was told that if he saw Elijah being taken up, his request would be granted. As Elijah ascended, his mantle fell to the watching Elisha and Elisha is recorded as doing twice as many miracles as Elijah.

 

          Centuries later the disciples watched as Jesus ascend into Heaven. Ten days later His mantle – the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples as they waited in an upper room. Jesus had told them that they would do greater things than He had done because He was going to the Father and would send the Holy Spirit. The early Church went out in the power of the Spirit and did mighty works as Jesus had promised.

 

          These two men are the only ones recorded in Scripture who were translated bodily to Heaven without dying and staying there. However there is a growing number of accounts of people who have visited Heaven in “out- of –the- body” experiences, some after clinical death but others without dying as did Paul in 2 Corinthians 12 and John in Revelation 4. The translation of Enoch and Elijah does not prove a rapture of the Church, ‘pre-trib” or “mid-trib.”  It is a misuse of Scripture to say that it does. Some have Enoch and Elijah coming back to die as the two witnesses in Revelation 11 but I doubt this very literal interpretation of what is a largely symbolic book.

 

          The Book of Revelation shows the age-long battle of the Kingdom of God against the forces of darkness. We can all take comfort from the portrayal of the worship of our great God and the ultimate victory over evil. A helpful guide to understanding the various ways of interpreting the Book of Revelation is in the back of the Spirit Filled Life Bible published by Thomas Nelson Publishers.  I believe it does disservice to the Book to take it literally because the reality is so much greater than the literal interpretation. That’s why symbols are used. Only the Holy Spirit can unlock the depths of the Book and this is an ongoing process. 

 

           God’s ongoing plan for the Church can be more accurately determined from the patterns or types He has written into the pattern nation Israel, at the beginning of the Bible. There we see God’s Covenant people rise up in victory, overcome the enemy, regain their lost inheritance and establish the Kingdom under David’s Son, and that is what the future holds for the Church. This is what the Cross has purchased. Meanwhile Jesus is “waiting till His enemies be made His footstool” (Hebrews 10:13) When we have completed the job that Jesus gave us to do, He will come again to reign. We will rise to meet Him and escort Him to the throne. There is much to be done before then.

 

          Let’s get on with it!