I’m inclined to an even earlier date than 70 AD.
Jesus is more concerned about the
tribulation of the Church, than the tribulation of the Jews.
·
The book of Acts records detailed persecution
and tribulation of the Church from 33 AD onward.
·
There are plenty of pairs of witnesses that
could fit the part: for example, James and Stephen, Peter and Paul (Revelation
11:3ff).
·
Mary, typifying the Church as a whole, is driven
into the wilderness (Revelation 12).
This is a realistic picture of a real historical event tied to, but
before 70 AD.
·
Jesus, in accordance with Daniel, defeats Rome
at His Crucifixion.
·
The false religious system is destroyed in 70 AD
by Titus.
·
The false government finally goes down around
325 AD with the conversion of Constantine.
The Church comes into full bloom at around 3 million strong.
·
The false philosophies are mostly overthrown in
the 4th Century. We would not even know
about most of these, but Arabic scholars revived them. What was wounded in the head has come back to
life.
33-40 AD would work for me but we
cannot be dogmatic or certain. I believe
that Matthew 24:36 refers to the Second Coming and the final judgement.
The Amillennial theologians want to
make this Second Coming invisible. However,
the Scripture says that every eye will see...
So, I believe that the Second Coming is clearly ahead.
Dispensationalism inserts a new event
and plays this history all over again.
Jay Adams wrote an interesting book about this.[1]
·
Now there are two victories of Christ: one at
the cross and another at the end of the tribulation.
·
Now there are two significant Millenniums: one
at the cross and another at the end of the tribulation.
·
Now there are two Second Comings of Christ: one
at the rapture and another at the end of the Millennium.
The book of Daniel shows that “the stone cut without hands,”
which is Christ and His Church brings an end to the Roman Empire
immediately. Dispensationalists used to
insert gaps here, between the crushing of the feet and “the stone cut without
hands” As well as in other places. I
studied under Dispensationalists at Dallas Theological Seminary. Not one of them would allow for these gaps,
the grammar prohibits it. All gap
theories are non-Biblical inventions. So
Dispensationalists in 1975 found support from other places.
“The stone cut without hands” is
exclusively First Advent stuff.
We also need to examine the significance of the Shekinah Glory
in all this. The Shekinah departs in the
days of Ezekiel (around 586 BC). It
reappears in the Bethlehem Star, at the Transfiguration, and at the tongues of
fire in Acts. The New Testament clearly
explains that it is often veiled for Christ’s purposes. There can be no mistake, though. Jesus is the Shekinah Glory. He is the effulgence of God’s majesty. There are so many passages that say this
directly, we really ought to run them down sometime.
I’m not looking at which theories will work. I’m looking for facts about what won’t
work. Much of this stuff is just way out
of bounds, as the false prophecies of many demonstrate. We need to get these false prophecies, theories,
and issues off the table so we can talk sensibly about the truth that remains. That leaves a lot of wiggle room for Premillennialists.
I'm not trying to convince anyone. It took decades for me to get to this
point. It's very foggy and I don't see
very well. I'm just reporting about what
I think the heaven-scape looks like from where I stand now. Tomorrow we will both be a little farther
down the road and the scenery will change a little for both of us. Eventually, the fog will clear, our blindness
will be healed, and we will be singing with the heavenly choir. Sola Deo Gloria. Amen
Now we need to move on and refocus on the Gospel of the shed
blood of Jesus Christ. This is where the
healing is. I doubt that prophecy
preaching has ever brought many to Christ.
Mostly prophecy preaching is a sidetrack littered with frauds. The book of Revelation makes more sense as a
book of Worship, but that doesn’t exclude prophetic ideas, does it?
[1]
Adams, Jay E., The Time Is At Hand (Presbyterian and Reformed, Phillipsburg, NJ,
1966, 2000: 138 pages)
No comments:
Post a Comment