Table of contents for The Last Eight Days

1. The Last Eight Days, Part 1
2. The Last Eight Days, Part 2
3. The Last Eight Days, Part 3. Conclusion

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

Tuesday 12 Nisan.  A Prophecy Lesson

Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. “Do you see all these things?” he asked. “I tell you the truth, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.” (Matt. 24:1-2)

How this must have astonished the disciples. Over 500 years earlier the prophet Daniel had revealed that beginning with a decree authorizing the reconstruction of Jerusalem, Israel would be given 490 years during which all necessary preparations for the Messianic Kingdom would be made . They would finish transgression, put an end to sin, atone for wickedness, bring in everlasting righteousness, seal up vision and prophecy, and anoint the most holy (place). The most holy place refers to the Temple. Accomplishing this would require the Messiah to come and die for the sins of the people (Daniel 9:24-26).

The disciples knew the 483 year mark had been reached a few days earlier and that the Messiah was among them. He had explained to them that when they got to Jerusalem He would be executed but would come back from the grave three days later (Matt. 16:21, Luke 18:31-33). So there were only seven years left of the 490 years. The Temple had been undergoing a major reconstruction that so far had required 46 years (John 2:20) and wasn’t complete yet. But now Jesus was saying everything would be torn down. Not one stone would be left standing on another. How could that be?

As they began their trek up the Mt. of Olives on their way back to Bethany, four of the disciples (Peter, James, John and Andrew) approached Jesus to ask Him about these things. They had 3 questions for Him. First they wanted to know when this would happen. They also wanted to know what would be the sign of His coming, and what would be the sign of the end of the age (Matt. 24:3).

By their questions we can tell they’d been discussing this among themselves. Wanting to know when the Temple would be destroyed was an obvious reaction to his earlier statement, but the Lord’s 2nd Coming was still a new idea to them. And if the Temple was going to be torn down how would they know when the end of the age would come? They certainly could no longer count on it it happening in 7 years.

Matthew’s account of the Lord’s response does not contain an answer to their first question. But Luke’s does, so let’s go there first.

Jesus told them, “When you see Jerusalem being surrounded by armies you will know its desolation is near. There will be great distress in the land (Israel) and wrath against this people (the Jews). They will fall by the sword and be taken as prisoners to all the nations. Jerusalem will be trampled on by the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled” (Luke 21:20, 23,24).

The disciples were to understand that when they saw the Roman Armies surrounding Jerusalem it would mean Temple was about to be destroyed. The Jews mounted an unsuccessful revolt against Rome in 66 AD and by 70AD Jerusalem and the Temple lay in ruins.

In answering their 2nd and 3rd questions, Jesus began with an overview. In the times ahead there would be false messiahs, wars and rumors of wars, but they would not signal the end. He said nation would rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There would be famines and earthquakes in various places. He characterized these as the beginning of birth pangs, meaning they would be indicators that the time of the 2nd Coming was near.

He said the Jewish people would be persecuted and hated by all nations because they would be blamed for His death. There would be false prophets, and an increase of wickedness, but he who stands firm to the end would be saved (Matt. 24:4-13).

We know he wasn’t talking about the Church here because our salvation is not contingent upon standing firm to the end. Our salvation was assured from the moment we believed (Ephes. 1:13-14). God has set His seal of ownership on us and put His Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing this (2 Cor. 1:21-22). Jesus had post rapture believers in mind here, because they have no such guarantee. As you’ll see there’s no mention of the Church anywhere in this discussion because Jesus was speaking as a Jewish prophet explaining to His Jewish disciples about the end times as they concern the Jewish people. Remember, their questions to Him were about the remaining seven years of Daniel’s 70 Week prophecy, which is all about Israel.

Then He completed His overview by saying the Gospel would be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come (Matt. 24:14). Now before you say, “There’s where the Church comes in,” let me take you to Rev. 14 to see the fulfillment of this prophecy.

Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the springs of water.” (Rev. 14:6-7)

Now the Lord gave them the first specific sign in answer to their questions. He said when the people of Judea see the abomination that causes desolation standing in the Holy place they should immediately flee for their lives (Matt. 24:15-16). The term abomination that causes desolation was well known to them even though it had only happened once previously. In one of history’s clearest models of the anti-Christ, the Syrian ruler Antiochus Epiphanes placed an image of the Greek god Zeus with his own face on it in the Temple and demanded that the people worship it on pain of death. This rendered the Temple unfit for use and started the three and one half year Maccabean revolt. The annual celebration of their victory over the Syrians is called the Feast of Hanukkah. Every Jew knows the meaning of the abomination of desolation from this celebration. It was a sign they could all could recognize.

Jesus told the people of Judea to pray their flight wouldn’t be in winter or on a Sabbath when that happens again, because that sign would signal the beginning of the Great Tribulation (Matt. 24:21). It’s more difficult to flee one’s home in the winter and it’s against the Law for Jews to travel on the Sabbath.

It’s hard to over estimate the significance of that statement. Even though Jesus had earlier warned the disciples the Temple was soon to be destroyed and the people would be scattered to the nations, He now said there would be a Jewish nation in Israel with a working Temple again as the End of the Age approached. From about 135 AD until 1948 there was no Jewish nation, and since 70AD there hasn’t been a Temple there.

With 20-20 hindsight we can see that with the rejection of the Messiah, Daniel’s 70 week prophecy was suspended 7 years short of it’s fulfillment. The Lord’s brother James explained to the Early Church leaders that this suspension would remain in force while the Lord took from the Gentiles a people for Himself (the Church) and after that Israel would be restored (Acts 15:13-18). Therefore the Church Age didn’t cancel the remaining seven years, it has just postponed their fulfillment. After the Church has been raptured Israel’s final 7 years will resume and this time all their objectives will be reached.

The 3 ½ years of judgment that begins with the abomination that causes desolation will be the worst the world has ever seen or ever will see again (Matt. 24:21) No period of time is more carefully measured in all the Bible. It’s variously described as being 3 ½ years, or 42 months or 1260 days long. And then the Lord will return and put an end to it. He said if it was allowed it to run its course not a single human being would survive, but for the sake of His elect He will put an end to it at its appointed time (Matt. 24:22).

Immediately after the end of the Great tribulation the Sun and Moon will go dark and the stars will fall from the sky. The world will be plunged into darkness. At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear as the only light in the sky and all the nations of the Earth will mourn. Then they will see the the Lord coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory (Matt. 24:29-30).

Jesus said in effect that the generation of people being born when the first of the end times signs appear will still be alive at the 2nd Coming (Matt. 24:34). Since He began by saying there will be a nation of Jewish people in the Promised Land in the end times, and since that hadn’t been the case until 1948, scholars believe that the rebirth of Israel was the event that kicked off the End Times. If so, then many of the people who were born in 1948 will still be alive when He returns.

“No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father” (Matt. 24:36)

From Matt. 24:29-30 we can tell that Jesus was speaking about the day and hour of his return to Earth after the end of the Great Tribulation, and while you have likely seen different different interpretations of what follows, it’s important for you to understand that all of it pertains to the time immediately surrounding the 2nd Coming.

First He said it would be similar to the days of Noah. Before the flood unbelievers had no idea what was coming and why, and when Noah tried to warn them about it they just laughed, as if he was crazy. Right up to the day of the flood, they kept going about their lives, clueless to the fact that life as they knew it was about to end forever. It will be like that at the End of the Age as well. This is why Jesus said the nations will mourn when they see Him coming (Matt.24:30). They’ll finally realize that what they’ve been hearing is true and it will be too late for them to do anything in response.

He gave three examples of people appearing to be just alike and doing the same things, but one would be received into the Kingdom while the other would be sent away to eternal punishment. Matthew mentioned only two of them, the men in the field and the women grinding with a hand mill (Matt. 24:40-41). Luke added the two people sleeping in the same bed (Luke 17:34). The Lord’s point was that what differentiated them was not external and physical, but was internal and spiritual. It’s what they believe that makes them different.

The key to understanding these examples lies in the words taken and left. The Greek word for taken means to take unto oneself, or receive, and refers to surviving believers who will be received into the Kingdom. The word for left means to send away. These are the unbelievers who will be sent away for judgment. This example speaks of Tribulation survivors who will stand before the Lord upon His return to learn of their destiny.

Then He gave a warning that those who survive the Great Tribulation will not know the day or hour of His return so they should be watching for Him like a homeowner watches for a thief he knows is coming (Matt. 24:42-44).

Next, the Lord told them four parables, each one an example of how it will be just after the 2nd Coming. You’ll see that throughout this discussion there’s been no mention of a rapture or even of the Church itself. Nor will there be. This discussion is about Israel’s last seven years. The Church will be gone by then.

The Faithful Servant. (Matt. 24:45-51)

The first parable is about servants of a master’s house who’ve been given the responsibility of seeing that his other servants are fed . Remember, a parable is a fictional story placed in an Earthly context that’s designed to convey a Heavenly truth. Every character or event is symbolic of something else. Understanding what they symbolize helps us discover the Heavenly truth.

The servants in charge are post rapture ministers of the Gospel, which is symbolized by the food they provide for the other servants, their congregations. Their master is the Lord. None of them know exactly when He will return but when He does those who have been faithfully preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom will be rewarded. Those who’ve misled their flocks and preached a false Gospel will be punished. James warned us that those who teach will be judged more strictly (James 3:1). By their actions, these servants will have shown themselves to be false teachers and will be judged accordingly.

Keep in mind that eternal security is a blessing given only to the Church. Post rapture believers will have to maintain their own righteousness or risk losing their salvation. Rev. 14:12 says they’ll have to keep God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. And Rev. 16:15 says, “Behold I come Like a thief. Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.” When used symbolically, clothing stands for righteousness (Isaiah 61:10) and post rapture believers will be responsible for their own.

The Ten Virgins. (Matt. 25:1-13)

Next He told the parable of the 10 virgins or bridesmaids. Once again He began by identifying the time frame of the parable. By saying “at that time” He was referring to Matt. 24:36, the day and hour of His 2nd Coming, which follows the end of the Great Tribulation (Matt. 24:29).

The story is about 10 young women who’ve been waiting a long time for the bridegroom to come. It’s late and all 10 have fallen asleep. Suddenly they hear someone shouting that the bridegroom is finally coming. They’ve all been given lamps and oil to help light the way but five of them have run out of oil, and the other five can’t lend them any. Those without oil hurry to buy more, but while they’re on their way the bridegroom arrives and the wedding banquet begins. Arriving late, they ask the bridegroom to let them in but he claims not to know them and they’re denied entrance.

This is another example of how some tribulation survivors will be received into the Kingdom while others will be excluded. The key ingredient here is oil, which symbolizes the Holy Spirit and identifies the five who have it as faithful believers, while those without it are not.

Those who try to find the Church in this parable overlook the fact that the timing is all wrong, and the church is the bride, not a bridesmaid. A bride doesn’t need the groom’s permission to enter her own wedding banquet. Also, characterizing the five without oil as backslidden Church Age believers violates the one condition of our salvation, which is belief, not behavior. And finally, a Church Age believer cannot lose the Holy Spirit, who is sealed within us as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance. Once again, the Lord warned those on Earth at the time to keep watch because they won’t know the day or hour of his return (Matt 25:13).

The Talents. (Matt. 25:14-30)

Using the word “again” to begin this parable indicates the Lord is still speaking of the time just after His 2nd Coming and that means the servants are Tribulation survivors. It’s the story of three servants who were given allotments of money, 5 talents, 2 talents, and 1 talent respectively, by a master who was going away for a time. When He returned he called them in for an accounting. The servants who were given 5 and 2 talents had both doubled their master’s money and were commended. The servant given one talent had buried it in the ground and returned it to him untouched. This servant was rebuked. The talent was taken from him and he was thrown into the outer darkness.

Remember, in a parable everything is symbolic. The key to understanding this one lies in discovering what a talent of money symbolizes. Five talents was a lot of money, so the talents must represent something very valuable to the Lord, but there’s no indication in the Bible that money is valuable to Him. Seeing them as abilities we have is also a mistake because we don’t have anything He needs. Even the most “talented” among us can not contribute anything to His accomplishments. Out of love He sometimes lets us help, but He doesn’t need our help. Job 35:6-8 tells us our sins don’t hurt Him and our righteousness doesn’t help Him. They only affect us. However, according to Psalm 138:2 He values His name and His word above all things.

God must fulfill the promises He has made. We call these promises prophecy. He’s given His word that He will do all that He says (Isaiah 46:11) because His name is at stake (Ezekiel 36:22-23). Study His word and your faith will multiply as you read of prophecy after prophecy being fulfilled.  But ignore it and you’ll lose even the little bit with which you began. In the Church Age we’re protected against total loss (1 Cor. 3:15), but it won’t be so afterward. If they don’t use, they’ll lose it. And they’ll lose their place in the Kingdom as well.

The Sheep And The Goats. (Matt. 25:31-46)

The Lord’s final example leaves no doubt as to its timing. “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with Him, He will sit on his throne in heavenly glory” (Matt. 25:31) It’s the time just after the 2nd coming when He will bring all the world’s tribulation survivors to stand before Him in judgment. He’ll separate them based on how they treated His brothers during the Great Tribulation. Believers, called sheep, will be placed on His right and welcomed into the Millennial Kingdom where they’ll help repopulate the Earth. Unbelievers, called goats, will be placed on His left and then thrown into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

This appears to be a judgment based on works, but as with everything else the Lord looks at the motive behind our actions. Only a true believer would be willing to take the risks necessary to help protect the Jewish people against the anti-Christ’s determined effort to wipe them out to the last one. If he can do this before they petition the Lord’s return he will have won, so his extermination efforts will be even more relentless than Hitler’s. Anyone caught trying to thwart his effort will share the fate of the Jews. Those who help the Jews will be doing so at their own peril. But it will be as if they are helping the Lord Himself out of gratitude for all He’s done for them. Their faith will be rewarded.

After Jesus had told them all these things they joined the rest of the disciples and continued on their short walk to Bethany, where they were staying. More next time. 03-31-12

Table of contents for Something Old Something New

1. Something Old, Something New
2. Lessons From Jonah

Commentary by Jack Kelley

For being only four chapters long, the Book of Jonah packs quite a punch.  Jonah was called by God to take a message to Nineveh (modern Mosul in Iraq) but ran away instead. He thought he could escape on a boat bound for Tarshish, which was about a thousand miles in the wrong direction. Of course the Lord watched him do this and created a great storm in the Mediterranean Sea as Jonah was trying to cross.

Jonah quickly realized Who had sent the storm and why. When the waves threatened to overwhelm the small ship, he convinced the sailors their only hope was to throw him over the side and when they did the storm subsided. Then the Lord summoned a great fish to rescue Jonah and He spent three days and three nights in the belly of the fish while contemplating the folly of his ways. When Jonah repented, the Lord had the fish vomit him out on dry land and the next time the Lord asked Jonah to go to Nineveh, he obeyed immediately.

It’s a great lesson on the folly of trying to avoid the Lord’s call on your life, but the lessons we can learn from Jonah don’t end there.

Lesson #2

Nineveh was a Gentile city, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and had no covenant with God. They had made no agreement to obey Him like the Israelites had (Exodus 24:3), and God had no obligation to save them. At one time their ancestors had known the Lord but over time the people had drifted away and taken a different path, one of paganism. But in a demonstration of His love for them in spite of their rejection of Him, God saw fit to warn them of impending judgment, and when Jonah finally arrived with God’s warning the response was remarkable to say the least.

The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.

When the news reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh:

“By the decree of the king and his nobles:

Do not let any man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything; do not let them eat or drink. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth. Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence. Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish.” (Jonah 3:5-9)

The Pharaoh of Egypt had arrogantly asked Moses, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go.” (Exodus 5:2) But unlike him, the King of Nineveh remembered God and knew He had no desire to judge them, but that their behavior had made it necessary. If they changed their behavior maybe He would be merciful.

They changed their behavior, God showed compassion, and judgment was averted.

Now this was no small feat. Nineveh was a large and important city. According to Jonah 3:3 a visit to Nineveh required 3 days just to see it all. Jonah 4:11 tells us 120,000 people lived there. Some scholars say the fact that God said they didn’t know their right hand from their left means He was only counting the children under the age of reason. If so, that would have made the total population more like half a million. And everyone of them from the greatest to the least obeyed the King’s directive.

Besides fasting, praying and donning sack cloth we’re not told just what the Ninevites did to postpone their time of judgment. The King’s decree called on the people to give up their evil ways and their violent behavior, but there’s no indication that they ever converted to Judaism or offered sacrifices for their sins, or even began to worship the God who had threatened them. We don’t know of any who were saved through faith in the coming Redeemer. They just tried to behave in a manner they thought would be more acceptable to Him.

It was external, physical, national behavior and to some extent it worked. One generation of Ninevites was spared a terrible judgment and allowed to die in peace, but as far as we can tell they all went to Hell anyway. And the next generation behaved as badly as ever. They conquered the Northern Kingdom and scattered its people to the four winds leading them away into slavery. The one after that came within one day of conquering the South before God put an end to their evil ways. The night before the battle when they were camped on Mt. Scopus looking down over the Temple Mount God sent an angel into their camp with devastating results.

Then the Angel of the LORD went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. (Isaiah 37:36-37)

Of course God knew all this would happen when He sent Jonah to Nineveh. He knew He was going to empower the Babylonians to conquer the so-called known world and that Nineveh and the entire Assyrian Empire would soon be no more. So what was His point?

I think this lesson from Jonah was intended as a message to the Israelites. The Northern Kingdom was over 100 years into it’s flirtation with idolatry and Jonah was a prophet from the land of Zebulon who was known to the King (2 Kings 14:25). Later, the southern Kingdom would fall into idolatry as well and over a 23 year period God would offer them a deal even better than the one Jonah carried to Nineveh (Jeremiah 25:3-6).

In an effort to turn his people back to Him, God was using Nineveh to give them a demonstration of His Promise to them in 2 Chronicles 7:14; “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

The Ninevites were not God’s people and they weren’t called by His name, but when they humbled themselves and turned from their wicked ways the scheduled judgment was postponed. Tragically, the Israelites of both kingdoms, who were God’s people, missed the lesson of Jonah, ignored His promise, and suffered the consequences. Their lesson was wasted.

Lesson #3

700 years later Jesus said He would prove Himself to Israel’s leaders using Jonah’s experience in the belly of the fish as a sign. It would be another lesson from Jonah.

Then some of the Pharisees and teachers of the law said to him, “Teacher, we want to see a miraculous sign from you.”

He answered, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.” (Matt. 12:38-40)

He was speaking of the resurrection, an unmistakable sign that He was who He claimed to be. It was the definitive proof they had asked for, and should have removed all doubt that He was their Messiah. After all, how many other times had someone made such a prediction and then fulfilled it? And just as Jonah had given Nineveh 40 days notice, Jesus waited 40 days after His crucifixion for Israel to recognize Him before finally departing for Heaven (Acts 1:3,9). That lesson was wasted, too.

Lesson #4

In Romans 15:4 Paul said that everything that was written in the past was written to teach us. That being the case there’s a lesson from Jonah for us, too. But remember, things that were external, physical and national in the Old Testament often become internal, spiritual, and personal in the New. (Read Something Old, Something New.)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

When Jesus came into the world we began receiving clues that God’s focus was widening to include all His creation, not just Israel. Henceforth the emphasis would shift from external, physical, national behavior to internal, spiritual, personal belief.  It’s not how we behave that saves us, but what we believe.

The Ninevites responded to Jonah’s warning with external, physical, national behavior and their generation escaped the coming judgment. So if God sent a prophet like Jonah with a similar warning to us today, what would be the proper response? Is there a New Testament equivalent to 2 Chron. 7:14? The answer is yes and it’s John 6:28-29.

 Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”

Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”

It’s becoming more and more obvious that the world is under judgment. No nation is exempt. Escape from judgment has become a personal matter, and can only be found by joining a people of no nation, but of a Kingdom that’s in the world but not of the world. The Kingdom of God. And our King, who cannot lie, has promised to protect us from it.

They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath (1 Thes. 1:9-10).

For God did not appoint us to suffer wrath but to receive salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thes 5:9).

Since you have kept my command to endure patiently, I will also keep you from the hour of trial that is going to come upon the whole world to test those who live on the earth (Rev. 3:10).

No matter what country you live in, trying to appropriate Old Testament promises made to a different people under a different set of rules won’t do any good. You can’t save your country but you can save yourself by believing in the one God sent to save you. And then by the power of the Holy Spirit you can show others how to save themselves the same way. Remember, it’s internal, spiritual and personal.

If you know for sure you belong to the Lord, then you have nothing to worry about. Your challenge now is to live in such a way that your life serves as an example that attracts others to Him. If you’re not sure you’re His, you should hurry to make yourself so. Everyone who asks receives, all who seek will find, and to whoever knocks the door will be opened (Matt. 7:7-8). No one is refused, no one is excluded. All you have to to is to admit you’re a sinner, and ask Him to be your Savior and forgive your sins. He will send His Holy Spirit to show you what to do from there (Ephes. 1:13-14). The Church could disappear any day now, without a prior sign or warning, and those who are left behind will soon be living in a much less friendly world.

When the people of Nineveh heard the voice of Jonah they responded immediately and although Nineveh’s destruction was foreordained, their generation was spared. The same is true today, but the appropriate response is different. Instead of being external, physical and national it’s internal, spiritual, and personal. The destruction of the world is foreordained. If you hear the voice of the Lord, respond immediately and you’ll be spared. It’s our lesson from Jonah. Don’t let it be wasted. 03-10-12

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3)

” ‘The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. Throughout the country that you hold as a possession, you must provide for the redemption of the land. (Leviticus 25:23-24)

Right from the beginning, the Lord made good on His promise to bless those who blessed Abraham and curse those who cursed him. When the kings of 5 nations kidnapped Lot and his family, Abraham went after them, aided by Aner, Eschol, and Mamre, three leaders of the Amorites. When the dust had settled, Lot was freed, the 5 kings were defeated, and the Amorites received a handsome spoil from the King of Sodom (Gen.14). Those who had blessed Abraham were blessed and those who had cursed him were cursed.

When Pharoah tried to prevent the Israelites from leaving Egypt, pursuing them all the way down the Arabian Peninsula, his armies were drowned beneath the Red Sea. (Exodus 15:4)

When the Amalekites attacked Israel in the desert and were defeated, the Lord declared war on them “from generation to generation.” (Exodus 17:16) Seen any Amalekites lately?

When Joshua made a pact with the Gibeonites to help the Israelites during the conquest of the land, the Lord honored it, and the Gibeonites were spared. Later when Saul set out to eliminate them from the land the Lord was angered and sent David to apologize and restore them. (2 Samuel 21:1-4)

The Ammonites, the Edomites, the Moabites, and the Philistines all gave Israel trouble from time to time after they settled in the land. Sometimes God used them as agents of His judgment against disobedient Israel, and other times it was of their own volition. But eventually their animosity toward Israel brought about their destruction. When the Lord sent Babylon to execute His judgment against Israel, He had Nebuchadnezzar destroy those nations completely.

But even the mighty Babylon earned the Lord’s displeasure for the way they treated His people.  He told Jeremiah that as soon as Israel’s 70-year exile had been completed, He would judge their captors (Jer. 25:12).   150 years earlier God had warned Babylon they would mistreat His people and He would judge them because of it, but they paid Him no heed.  Read the words of Isaiah.

“I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke. You said, I will continue forever— the eternal queen!’ But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.

“Now then, listen, you wanton creature, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.’ Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.

You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’

Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.” (Isaiah 47:6-11)

At the end of the 70 years, the Lord sent the Medes and Persians against them and the great City of Babylon was conquered. Cyrus the Persian set the Israelites free, returned the loot stolen from the Temple Nebuchadnezzar had destroyed and helped them rebuild it.  Later Persian King Artaxerxes gave Nehemiah permission to rebuild the Holy City and its walls (Nehemiah 2), an event that started the clock running on Daniel’s 70 Weeks prophecy (Daniel 9:24-27).  In return the Kingdom of Persia enjoyed several generations of peace and prosperity.

When Alexander the Great came through the Middle East but spared Jerusalem, he was blessed with an unbroken string of victories the likes of which the world had never seen, reaching into Africa and all the way across India.

That Was Then. What About Now?

In modern times Israel’s first benefactor was Great Britain. The Balfour Declaration of 1917 made the creation of the modern nation possible. The Lord had given the British lands that spanned the globe. “The sun never sets on the British Empire,” was their legitimate boast. But in 1938 when they suddenly changed their tune and began a period of open hostility toward the Jews things changed. Today most of that Empire is gone and Britain is no longer the dominant world power.

And now it seems like the US is learning a similar lesson. In the years since the Madrid Conference was held in 1991, a series of “natural” disasters have struck the US, each on the heels of something we did or helped do that runs contrary to God’s declaration concerning the real ownership of the Land of Israel. I’ve listed them below.

1. October 30, 1991: The Perfect Storm – As President George H. W. Bush is opening the Madrid (Spain) Conference to consider “land for peace” and Israel’s Middle East role, the “perfect storm” develops in the North Atlantic, creating the largest waves ever recorded in that region. The storm travels 1000 miles from “east to west” instead of the normal “west to east” pattern and crashes into the New England Coast. Thirty-five foot waves pound Kennebunkport,Maine,  the summer home of the Bush family.

2. August 23, 1992: Hurricane Andrew – When the Madrid Conference moves to Washington DC and the peace talks resume, Hurricane Andrew, the worst natural disaster ever to hit America, comes ashore and produces an estimated $30 billion in damage and leaving 180,000 homeless in Florida.

3. January 16, 1994: Northridge Earthquake—President Bill Clinton meets with Syria’s President Hafez el-Assad in Geneva. They talk about a peace agreement with Israel that includes giving up the Golan Heights. Within 24 hours, a powerful 6.9 earthquake rocks Southern California, This quake, centered in Northridge, becomes the second most destructive natural disaster to hit the United States, behind Hurricane Andrew.

4. January 21, 1998: Lewinsky Scandal – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with President Clinton at the White House and is coldly received. Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright refuse to have lunch with him. Shortly afterwards on that day, the Monica Lewinsky scandal breaks into the mass media and begins to occupy a major portion of Clinton’s time.

5. September 28, 1998: Hurricane George – As Secretary of State Albright works on the final details of an agreement in which Israel would give up 13 percent of the West Bank, Hurricane George slams into the United States Gulf Coast with 110 mph winds and gusts up to 175 mph. The hurricane hits the coast and is stalled there. On September 28, Clinton meets with Yasser Arafat and Netanyahu at the White House to finalize this land deal. Later, Arafat addresses the United Nations about declaring an independent Palestinian state by May 1999, as Hurricane George pounds the Gulf Coast, causing $1 billion in damage. At the exact time that Arafat departs the country, the storm begins to dissipate.

6. October 15-22, 1998: Texas Flooded – On October 15, 1998, Arafat and Netanyahu meet at the Wye River Plantation in Maryland. The talks are scheduled to last five days with the focus on Israel giving up the aforementioned 13 percent of the West Bank. The talks are extended and conclude on October 23. On October 17, awesome rains and tornadoes hit southern Texas. The San Antonio area is deluged with rain. The rain and flooding in Texas continue until October 22 and then subside. The floods ravage 25 percent of Texas and leave over one billion dollars in damage. On October 21, Clinton declares this section of Texas a major disaster area.

7. November 30, 1998: Market Capitalization Evaporates – Arafat comes to Washington again to meet with President Clinton to raise money for a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capitol. A total of 42 other nations were represented in Washington. All the nations agreed to give Arafat $3 billion in aid. Clinton promised $400 million, and the European nations $1.7 billion. On the same day, the Dow Jones average drops 216 points, and on December 1, the European Market had its third worst day in history. Hundreds of billions of market capitalization were wiped out in the U.S. and Europe.

8. December 12, 1998: Clinton is Impeached – As Clinton lands in the Palestinian-controlled section of Israel to discuss the “land for peace” process, the House of Representatives votes four articles of impeachment against him.

9. May 3, 1999: The Powerful Super Tornado – On the day that Yasser Arafat is scheduled to declare a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as the capital, the most powerful tornado storm system ever to hit the United States sweeps across Oklahoma and Kansas. The winds are clocked at 316 mph the fastest wind speed ever recorded. The declaration is postponed to December 1999 at the request of President Clinton, whose letter to Arafat encourages him in his “aspirations for his own land.” He also writes that the Palestinians have a right to “determine their own future on their own land” and that they deserve to “live free, today, tomorrow and forever.”

10. Week of October 11, 1999: Hurricane, Earthquake and Dow Collapse – As Jewish settlers in 15 West Bank settlements are evicted from covenant land, the Dow-Jones financial averages lose 5.7 percent in the worst week since October 1989. On October 15 the Dow lost 266 points, and a hurricane slams into North Carolina. On the next morning, October 16, a magnitude 7.1 earthquake rocks the southwest in the fifth most powerful earthquake in 20th Century. The earthquake was centered in the California desert and did little damage but was felt in three states. (source: www.truthorfiction.com)

11. August 29, 2005.  Hurricane Katrina. One week before Katrina made landfall, Israel carried out the evacuation of 9,500 residents from Gush Katif and four Samaria communities. Residents were forced from their homes by Israeli troops, some dragged away kicking and screaming and placed on buses that took them from the area. The Gaza evacuation had been supported and even urged upon Israel by the US.  Katrina was projected to be one of the most expensive natural disasters in our history (Source: www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=46178)

12.  Sept. 1, 2010  US Pres. Obama welcomed PM Netanyahu (Israel) Pres. Abbas (Palestinians) Pres. Mubarak (Egypt) and King Abdullah (Jordan) to the White House, having invited them all to dinner on the eve of the first direct negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians in nearly two years.  Almost no one expects any meaningful result from these talks. Most observers agree the time is wrong, the goals are wrong, and the participants are wrong.  The only reasons to hold talks now have more to do with politics than peace.  Even so, as the talks began, Hurricane Earl (a category 3 storm on a scale of 5)  was headed for North Carolina  and causing hurricane warnings to be issued all the way up the East coast to Cape Cod.

Coincidence Is Not A Kosher Word

The lessons of history are unmistakably clear. Those who have blessed Abraham have been blessed, while those who have cursed him have been cursed.  The Law of Cause and Effect is clearly established in the incidents I’ve described above. Even those who  deny the existence of God have seen the trend.  So when the US makes such an obvious change in course regarding Israel as our government seems to be making now, what right have we to expect anything but disaster? Applying the historic trend to the present, it wouldn’t take a prophet to predict even greater hardships for the US in the weeks and months ahead.

On the issue of Israel American believers are hopelessly divided. Many of us have been so blinded by the heresy called Replacement Theology (it teaches that the Church has replaced Israel in God’s plan) that we’re like Belshazzar, the spoiled Prince of Babylon. We’re trembling in fear but can’t read the handwriting on the wall. (Daniel 5:5-6)

We need to forget everything else where Israel is concerned and remember this one thing. God has claimed that land for Himself. No power on Earth is great enough to give even one inch of it to anyone else at any time for any reason without suffering the consequences. In the US  we now have twelve clear examples of that truth. How many will it take before we learn? Selah 09-04-10

As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man (Matt 24:37). The time leading up to the Great Flood was a lot like our time today in that it was characterized by a deliberate and escalating disregard for the ways of God. Finally “the Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5).

What Day Is This?

If you plot the lifespans of the patriarchs in Genesis 5 , you’ll discover it was 1656 years from Adam’s creation to the Great Flood.  During that time mankind had degenerated from human beings created in the very image of God who walked and talked with Him to a race whose thoughts and actions were totally depraved and bent only on evil (Gen. 6:5).  It’s been about 1977 years since man was first given the choice to be re-created by events at the Cross (2 Cor 5:17) but most of today’s world has declined.  As a result, a single look around us is all that’s needed to see that from a spiritual and moral perspective life today is becoming pretty much “as it was in the days of Noah”.

What Planet Are You From?

I’ve made mention in previous articles of the mysterious people in Genesis 6:4 called the Nephillim.   They were the offspring of marriages between angelic beings and earthlings . Would these beings with super natural strength (origin of the titans or demi-gods in mythology) be called aliens today? In many documented alien encounters there seems to be a great interest on their part in our reproductive system. Are aliens using humans to breed a super race again? In the King James rendering of Daniel 2:43 there’s a curious reference to someone “mingling themselves with the seed of men” in the last days. Is the anti-Christ part alien or in command of beings that are part alien and part human? As it was in the days of Noah?

Out Of The Way

But in all my years of study comparing the days of Noah with the end of the age one insight has recently made things much clearer to me. In Genesis 6:3 God warned of the removal of His Spirit from Earth before the coming judgment. Some see this passage as capping man’s life span at 120 years, but that can’t be its purpose.  In Psalm 90:10 we’re told that an average man’s life span is 70 years, and Isaiah 23:15 supports this conclusion.  Average life spans before the flood were much longer than 120 years, and after the flood soon became much shorter.  Looking at the Genesis lifespans again shows that Shem, probably the last pre-flood man, outlived 8 of the first 9 post flood generations of his descendants, including Abraham.

The fact is that 120 years was the time God gave man to prepare for the coming judgment. He said He was going to remove His Spirit from the earth prior to that judgment.   In 2 Thes 2:7 a similar warning is given concerning the end of the age (but without a deadline), and there is confusion over it’s interpretation just as with Gen. 6:3. The only truly literal interpretation of this passage is that sometime before the anti-Christ can be revealed in all his power beginning the Great Tribulation, the restraining force of the Holy Spirit must be taken out of the way (literally out of the midst, or from among).

Then as I was reading Genesis 6 again, the most remarkable thing happened. In my Bible Genesis 6:3 is in the right hand column about 1 inch down the page. I’ve had it high lighted for years.  In the left hand column directly across from Genesis 6:3 is another verse I highlighted some time ago. It’s Genesis 5:24 and reads; Enoch walked with God and then he was no more because God took him away. Seeing those two high lighted verses side by side like that caused the sequence of events to suddenly become so obvious to me, I don’t know why I hadn’t seen it before.  First Enoch was taken alive from earth and the Holy Spirit was withdrawn. Then in Gen. 6:5 man’s behavior is described as having become unbearably wicked and in Gen. 7 the judgment came, in that order.

Enoch’s name means teaching and according to Jude 14-15 he gave the first prophecy of the 2nd coming. Hebrew tradition holds that he was born on the 6th day of Sivan on the Hebrew calendar and was taken by God on his birthday. The 6th of Sivan is the day we know as Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. For these reasons Enoch is often seen as a model or type of the church, whose calling is also to teach the world the ways of the Lord and to talk about His coming.

You Promised You Wouldn’t Do That

The Bible declares that the Holy Spirit is sealed within believers as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (Ephes. 1:13-14). Paul wrote that the Holy Spirit will be withdrawn from earth sometime before the anti- Christ is allowed to trigger the judgment known as the Great Tribulation (2 Thes. 2:7).  Withdrawing the Holy Spirit without removing the Church would break God’s promise to us since it would require “unsealing” the Holy Spirit from within us. That’s something that God can’t do. “What I have said, that will I bring about,” He declares.  “What I have planned, that will I do.” (Isaiah 46:11)

If Enoch is indeed a model of the church and if the Lord’s prophecy of Matt 24:37 is meant to describe the sequence of end times events, as seems likely, then one day soon we will be taken alive (raptured) from earth like Enoch was, and the Holy Spirit will be withdrawn. Man’s behavior will quickly become unbearably wicked and the judgment will come, all in that order.  As it was in the days of Noah. Selah 08-21-10.

In addition to the comments I’ve received concerning my answer to the question about Reformed Theology, I’ve also been asked to interpret Rev. 3:9. 

I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.

Who are those who claim to be Jews but are not?  Since Revelation 2-3 applies to the entire Church age, the Lord may have been referring to more than one group.  Here are several candidates.

The Jews

In Romans 2:28-29 Paul wrote, “A man is not a Jew if he is only one outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical.  No, a man is a Jew if he is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a man’s praise is not from men, but from God.”

In Paul’s day there were many who had been born into the Jewish race and circumcised as a sign of the covenant, but according to him were not really Jews because there was no inner substance to complement their outer form.  It was this kind of Jew the Lord had earlier condemned saying, “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.” (Isaiah 29:13)  People like this were among the first to persecute the early Church.  They called the believers apostates, drove them out of Jerusalem, and tried valiantly to prevent the growth of the Church.   It’s easy to see how they could be called the synagogue of Satan, but are there others?

Replacement Theology

Among Christians, there is a school of thought called Replacement Theology, sometimes known as Supersessionism. This view holds that when the Jews crucified the Messiah all the promises God had made to Israel were transferred to the Church. They claim the New Covenant has superseded the Old, hence the term supersessionism.  The Jews are neither God’s chosen people any longer, nor does He have any specific future plans for the nation of Israel.  The Bible’s prophecies concerning the future blessing and restoration of Israel to the Promised Land have been allegorized into promises of blessing for the Church.

Elements of replacement theology can be found in Church writings as early as the 2nd Century, but it was the 16th Century emergence of a system of thought called Reformed Theology that’s most responsible for it becoming a mainstream Protestant belief today.  This, in spite of the fact that many of the early Reformers  – including John Calvin (but not Martin Luther) – wrote about the nation of Israel one day being restored by the grace of God and experiencing a national regeneration.  Today Calvin’s position  is clearly in the minority among Reformed Theologians.  Some scholars believe that Jesus may have been including advocates of replacement theology among those who say they are Jews but are not because they’ve claimed the promises God made to Israel for themselves.

By the way, the term “Synagogue of Satan” doesn’t mean the groups I’m describing are necessarily Satan worshipers.  But we must understand that there are only two sides to the issue of Israel’s destiny.  One is God’s and the other is Satan’s.  Those who don’t consciously support God’s plan for His people are supporting Satan’s by default and are therefore of the synagogue of Satan.

The Sword Of Islam

Among Moslems there’s a view that since Ishmael was Abraham’s first-born son, he’s the rightful beneficiary of God’s covenant with Abraham. Therefore the Promised Land belongs to his descendants, not Isaac’s. Others say that even if the inheritance does pass through Isaac, the current residents of Israel are the descendants of European converts to Judaism.  They’re the sons of Gentiles, not Isaac, and have no claim to the Land. Whether they adhere to one view or the other, Moslems agree that at the End of the Age Jesus will come back with Mohammed and help him rid the land of any remaining Jews. They say even the rocks and the trees will get involved saying, “O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me. Come and kill him.”  This would certainly qualify them for membership in the synagogue of Satan.

The Blood Of Ephraim

Then there’s the Mormon Church, with its members claiming to be descendants of the tribe of Ephraim (some include Manasseh as well) who escaped from the Babylonian destruction by sailing boats to the Americas. Theirs is the Temple of God, they say, and on land they’ve purchased in Kirtland, Missouri the New Jerusalem will stand. Every practicing Mormon receives a patriarchal blessing that reveals his or her lineage in the House of Israel.

Historically Mormons have referred to themselves as Israel, and we who are not members are called Gentiles. When I lived in Salt Lake City (called Zion by Mormons) and brought Jewish men like Gershon Solomon of the Temple Mount Faithful, and Rabbi Chaim Richman of the Temple Institute to our ministry to teach us about the coming Temple, I took delight in shocking them by saying they had come to the only place in the world where a Jew is considered to be a Gentile. Officially, Mormons claim to be Jews but are not.

By the way, according to Mormon eschatology, a Mormon leader will appear on a white horse at a time when the US constitution hangs by a thread, to save America and restore peace to the world.

So here are several groups who claim to be Jews but are not.  What does God have to say about this?

The Word Of God

It seems like just about everyone is claiming the inheritance promised to Israel. But what does God say? Has Israel been rejected because of her disloyalty, to be replaced by the Church or some other group?

This is what the LORD says: “Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done,” declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 31:37)

Why does Israel serve a future purpose in God’s plan, after what she’s done in the past?

“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes. (Ezekiel 36:22-23)

Will the Lord bring His people back to the land He promised them?

I will bring back my exiled people Israel; they will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit. I will plant Israel in their own land, never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God. (Amos 9:14-15)

This regathering began 62 years ago.  One day soon the Lord will reveal Himself to Israel by destroying a huge Moslem force arrayed against them.  Then He’ll complete the regathering, not leaving any behind (Ezekiel 39:22).   He’ll protect those who are His through the End Times judgments (Jere.  30:11) and open their eyes to finally recognize that Jesus is their Messiah (Zechariah 12:10) before the 2nd Coming.

Will Israel once again be the pre-imminent nation on Earth?

This is what the Sovereign LORD says: “See, I will beckon to the Gentiles, I will lift up my banner to the peoples; they will bring your sons in their arms and carry your daughters on their shoulders. Kings will be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. They will bow down before you with their faces to the ground; they will lick the dust at your feet. Then you will know that I am the LORD; those who hope in me will not be disappointed.” (Isaiah 49:22-23)

What role will the rocks and the trees really play in this? Speaking to Israel God said,

You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands. (Isaiah 55:12)

So once again we see the contrast between man’s view and God’s view.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Think about it. How can we believe that God will keep all His promises to us, while at the same time believing that he broke all His promises to Israel? Sure, they don’t deserve His loyalty, but then again, what makes us think that we do?

God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill? (Numbers 23:19)

The answer is obviously no, and that’s a good thing, because we’re betting our eternal destiny on His trustworthiness. Watching Him perform on His promises to Israel gives us great comfort, because by the time we know for sure that He’s going to perform on His promises to us, it’ll be too late for us to do anything about it.  But He will do all that He has promised, and that includes having those who didn’t take Him at His word where Israel is concerned come and fall at our feet and acknowledge that He has loved us.  Selah 04-10-10

This is an update of an article originally published in March 2004.  While it’s based on the Bible, it also includes Jewish wedding traditions from Biblical times.  Some of these traditions go all the way back to Abraham’s time and are described in Genesis 24.

Birth of a Tradition

Abraham was getting old and Sarah had died, so he sent his chief servant to the land of his brother to get a wife for Isaac. The servant loaded up 10 camels with gifts and set off. After some time he arrived in the village of Abraham’s brother Nahor. Approaching a young woman near a well, he asked for a drink, in accordance with a plan he had devised with the Lord.  When she offered to draw water for his camels as well, he recognized the confirming sign he had asked for and accompanied her to her home.

That evening he asked her family for permission to take the young woman, whose name was Rebekah, back home to be the bride of his master’s son Isaac. Using the gifts to reward her and compensate the family for the loss of their daughter, he said he wanted to leave immediately. When Rebekah’s father turned to her for final approval, she agreed and they set off the next morning. After several days travel during which the servant told her all about her betrothed, they arrived at Isaac’s home where she met him for the first time.  That very evening Isaac and Rebekah were married.

That’s The Way It Goes

Members of royalty often followed a procedure very similar to this in obtaining brides for their sons, sometimes arranging them years in advance of the actual event. Common people also adopted this method, but of course with them the prospective groom acted on his own behalf rather than sending someone in his stead.

Even today in some Middle Eastern cultures arranged marriages are common, with the groom’s mother selecting a bride for her son. The logic here is that a young man’s mother knows her son and his temperament better than anyone and can most accurately predict what kind of woman would please him. On one of our trips to Israel and Jordan, our Jordanian guide told us that his marriage had been arranged in this way and he was very happy with his mother’s selection.

Back To Biblical Times

In those days when a man took a liking to a young woman, he approached her father to ask for her hand in marriage.  Due to the prevailing economic conditions back then,  it took a long time for a man to become financially stable enough to think about starting a family.  When he did, he looked for a bride young enough to bear him many children.  So while the man in these cases could be in his thirties, the potential bride would often still be a teenager and would need her father’s permission to marry.

Inviting the man into their home, the young woman’s parents sat down with him around a table while she brought wine and four cups. After she had poured each of them (but not herself) a cup of wine, she listened while this man, who she was meeting for the very first time, described his assets, skills and other qualities that made him a desirable mate. A brief negotiation followed where the price he would have to pay as compensation for the family’s loss of their daughter was determined. It was called the bride price.

If the two men reached an agreeable amount all eyes turned to the daughter who had been listening intently to the entire discussion. She now had to decide if she would take this man to be her husband. If she turned her empty cup upside down, the man went away never to return. But if she filled her cup and took a sip of the wine, she was agreeing to become his wife.

At that point they signed a betrothal agreement, wherein the man promised on oath to return for the young woman when all the wedding preparations were complete. Now they were officially engaged and the relationship could only be terminated by a divorce.  He went away to build a home for them on family property next to his father’s house. This could take some time, and the couple rarely met again until the father of the groom pronounced the newly built home fit for habitation.  Only then was the wedding date set, and the man given permission by his father to go collect his bride for the wedding.

During this time the young woman was to watch and wait at her parents’ home. She and her bridesmaids had to maintain a constant state of preparedness, since the wedding date would not be revealed to her until the bridegroom actually appeared at her door to take her to their new home.

Surprise, Surprise

For his part, the groom would try to show up unexpectedly to surprise her, carrying her off suddenly “like a thief in the night” when no one would see them. The only advance warning she would get was the sound of his voice shouting her name and the blast of a ram’s horn.

When the bridesmaids discovered that the bride had been “spirited away” they would organize a great torch-lit procession, going throughout the whole town announcing that the wedding banquet was soon to begin. The banquet typically capped off a seven-day celebration during which the bride and groom were hidden away in their private rooms while the whole town made merry. Then they reappeared at the banquet to receive the congratulations of their friends and family, and their married life officially began.  The father of the groom picked up the tab for all the festivities.

Maybe you’re beginning to see the similarities. The Lord Jesus, being royalty, does not come directly seeking His bride. His Father sends an unnamed servant on His behalf, just like Abraham did. This servant of course is the Holy Spirit, our Comforter, Who beckons us.  Interestingly, the name of Abraham’s servant was Eliezer, which translates “God is my Comforter.” And even more so, in Genesis 24 Eliezer’s name is never mentioned, as if he’s serving as a model of the Holy Spirit, Whose name is also withheld from us.

The role of the Holy Spirit is to extol the virtues of the Son of God, Who when told that the Bride price was nothing less than His own shed blood, agreed to die for us, and for the joy set before Him endured the cross. (Hebr. 12:2).  His last word from the cross, recorded in John 19:30, was tetelesti, a Greek word that’s been translated “It is finished.”  In the Lord’s time it was a legal term that literally meant, “Paid in full”,  It was written across paid invoices and prison documents upon release of prisoners who had served their full terms, and had therefore paid their debt to society. With His death Jesus paid the price in full for His bride.

Who Loves You?

At the Last Supper Jesus had hoisted His cup and said,  “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” (1 Cor. 11:25).  When we first “take the cup” we’re signifying that we’re officially betrothed,  and we’re rewarded with gifts from the Holy Spirit, Who is sealed within us as a guarantee of our inheritance (Ephe. 1:13-14). We then begin our journey, the balance of our life on Earth, while the Holy Spirit continues to teach us about our betrothed and helps us develop  behavioral standards that are pleasing to Him.

As He does, we learn to our utter amazement that we have always been our Lord’s consuming desire,

That He lived so that we might come into existence and be set apart,

That He has longed for us to know how much He loves us,

That His every word and action were designed to bring us honor and express His devotion to us,

That He has dedicated Himself to us and covered all of our imperfections with His love, and

That He gave His life for us.

For His part the Lord is even now building a house for us. “You trust in God; trust also in me,“ He said. In My Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me so that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:1-3) He has sworn on oath to return for us when the wedding preparations are complete and take us to His Father’s house, to the place He’s been preparing for us.

Soon And Very Soon

One day when we least expect it, He’ll come like a thief in the night and spirit us away to our new home.  For the Lord Himself will come down from Heaven with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so will we be with the Lord forever. (1 Thes. 4:16-17).

In Heaven  the King and His Bride will be hidden away in our rooms, while on Earth the last seven years of human history unfold. (Isa. 26:19-20) At the end, following the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9), we’ll return to Earth together to rule and reign for 1000 years, and then it’s off to our eternal life with Him.  Praise the Lord.  Selah 08-22-09

Table of contents for Saved From the Worst

1. Saved From The Worst But Kept From The Best?
2. Who Are The Overcomers?
3. Understanding The Olivet Discourse Parables
4. Understanding The Olivet Discourse Parables Part 2

Part One of a Two Part Bible Study by Jack Kelley

If you’ve been visiting this site for any length of time at all you know I believe that once we’re saved we’re saved forever. I base this belief on a number of verses that say so in no uncertain terms.

But as I study the conditions on Earth just before the Second Coming, I can find no such assurance for those who become believers during the time of the Great Tribulation. It appears that the promise of an indwelling Holy Spirit that guarantees our eternal destiny is uniquely given to the Church. No Old Testament believer enjoyed such a relationship. Even King David, a man after God’s own heart, prayed that God would not take the Holy Spirit from him following his sin with Bathsheba. (Psalm 51:11) Old Testament believers were not promised that the Spirit of God would be sealed within them as a guarantee of their destiny.

Likewise there’s not a single verse that makes such a promise to Tribulation believers. What I do find for them are verses like the following. Speaking of the time when the whole world will be forced to take the Mark of the Beast or die, John wrote:

This calls for patient endurance on the part of the saints who obey God’s commandments and remain faithful to Jesus. Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.”

“Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” (Rev. 14:12-13)

Here the Lord admonished Tribulation believers to obey the Commandments and remain faithful, knowing that those who refuse the mark will either be martyred or forced out of the world’s economic system, denied access to life’s necessities. Those who die for their faith will be blessed, because their ordeal will be over.

And in Rev. 16:15 the Lord said,

Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.

If you’re familiar with the symbolic reference to clothing, you know what this verse means. If not, let’s review it. Isaiah 61:10 says, I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Just as clothing provides physical covering, righteousness provides spiritual covering. God has clothed us in garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness.

Now look at Zechariah 3:3-4. In Zechariah’s vision, Joshua, the High Priest, is standing before the angel of the Lord, obviously Jesus.

Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.”

Removing his filthy clothes symbolized taking away his sin. Putting rich garments on him made him righteous.

Rev 19:8 tells us that the Bride had been given garments of fine linen bright and clean to wear and that the fine linen stands for her righteousness. But again, the clothing isn’t hers. It was given to her.

This use of clothing to symbolize righteousness is the main issue in the parable of the wedding banquet (Matt 22:1-14) The King (God) prepared a wedding banquet (Kingdom Age) for his son (Jesus) and sent his servants (prophets) to inform the invited guests (Israel) that all was ready. After first ignoring the invitation, they finally set upon the servants he sent and killed them.

Enraged, the King sent his armies and burned their city (Jerusalem). Then he sent his servants to find anyone they could and invite them to the banquet. The servants gathered up everybody they could find (gentiles) and the banquet was begun. The King noticed a man not dressed in wedding clothes. When the man had no excuse for his improper attire, he was thrown out into the darkness.

In the context of the parable, the wedding clothes represent the righteousness with which God clothes believers when they accept His invitation into His kingdom. The guest trying to gain admittance wearing his own clothes (in his own righteousness) was expelled.

(Remember, the banquet follows the wedding, so it has already taken place when the King comes in. There’s no mention of a Bride anywhere in the parable, and in any case the Bride is not a guest at her own wedding. The Church is not in view here. According to Rev. 19 the wedding banquet will take place after the end of the Great Tribulation at the time of the Lord’s return in glory. That makes these last minute guests Tribulation survivors, some of whom will not have maintained their righteousness and will be expelled.)

What’s The Meaning Of This?

From all this we can safely assume that the Lord isn’t speaking of literal clothing in Rev. 16:15, but of the spiritual clothing that represents salvation and righteousness. Rather than guaranteeing salvation for Tribulation believers and assuming responsibility for their safety like a shepherd does for his sheep, He warns them to stay awake and alert lest they be caught naked when He comes. It’s a clear message that maintaining their salvation is their responsibility and if they’re not careful they could miss out. This warning is given on the threshold of the Bowl Judgments, the final and most devastating cycle of God’s Wrath.

We get another clue of this in Matt 24:12-13.

Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.

As He listed the signs indicating that the End of the Age has come, the Lord alluded to the fact that Tribulation believers will have to stand firm to the end in order to insure their salvation.

You may ask why the Lord would not grant guaranteed salvation to Tribulation believers. But remember, He didn’t grant it to Old Testament believers either. This was because the Old Testament was full of obvious signs of His presence. I could fill this whole document with ways in which the Lord revealed Himself to His people. They believed because of the evidence He provided them for His existence.

During the Church Age these public displays of His presence have for the most part been missing, so the Church hasn’t had this kind of evidence to support our belief. We believe by faith, and receive very special blessings because of that, one of them being eternal security. That’s why Jesus told doubting Thomas, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29)

Once the Church is gone and the 70th week of Daniel begins, the Lord will begin providing obvious signs of His presence again in the form of the judgments He will visit upon the world. And this time all the evidence will have been documented in advance. His presence will be so obvious that it won’t require very much faith to believe that He exists. Their faith will be needed for the patient endurance required in a time when it will literally be a blessing to die instead of remain alive.

What Time Is It?

With this background, we can begin to understand that the Olivet Discourse Parables can only be meant for Tribulation believers. By confirming their timing, we’ll have all the proof we need.

In Matt 24:15-21 Jesus explained that the Great Tribulation will begin with the Abomination that causes Desolation, the anti-Christ standing in the Temple declaring himself to be God. That’s the signal for the Jews to flee into the mountains.

Then in Matt 24:29 He says that immediately after the tribulation ends, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken. It’s now 3 1/2 years later. The Great Tribulation has ended.

Matt 24:30 has people on Earth seeing the Sign of the Son of Man in the sky, and then His visible return to Earth with power and great glory, and all the peoples of the Earth mourning. It’s now too late for them to be saved and they intuitively realize it. This is the Second Coming.

Matt 24:36 begins with “No one knows about that day or hour …” What day? What hour? The day and hour of His Second Coming. Stay in context. That’s been His subject since verse 30. I believe the reason He said “day or hour” is so we would know for sure that He was talking about the actual Day and Hour of His Coming, not the general time. All of the Olivet Discourse parables describe conditions on Earth following the day of His return.

By the way, Matt. 24:42-44 tell us that although it will be possible for the people on Earth at the time to accurately plot the end of the Great Tribulation, they won’t know the exact day of the Lord’s return. This is mentioned twice in these 3 verses. It could only mean that there’ll be an unspecified span of time between the appearance of the sign of the Son of Man that will signal the end of the Great Tribulation and His actual return in Power and Glory.

With this background, we’re ready for the Olivet Discourse Parables. The first one is in Matt. 24:45-51 and tells the story of the two servants. We’ll pick it up there in our conclusion of this study. See you next time.

Opinion by Jack Kelley

Peres: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians. (Daniel 5:28)

This verse is part of Daniel’s interpretation of the famous “handwriting on the wall”. In the Aramaic language the word peres can mean both divided and Persia. Daniel used both meanings to decipher the handwriting, predicting that Babylon would be divided and given to the Medes and Persians who were camped outside the city.

In what has to be the ultimate example of God’s irony, the politician most responsible for the disastrous land for peace program is Israeli President Shimon Peres, who would divide the land God gave to Israel and give it to the Palestinians.

Over the last few weeks the newly installed President of Israel has gone off on his own to promote the latest iteration of his strategy. The office of President is largely ceremonial in Israel so he has no real authority in foreign policy, but never the less, on his own initiative Shimon Peres has privately met with representatives of the EU, Israel’s Prime Minister Olmert, representatives of PA President Mahmoud Abbas, and now directly with PA Prime Minister Salam Fayad.

According to World Net Daily, “Peres’ plan calls for Israel to hand 97 percent of the West Bank over to the PA, with Israel retaining a small number of the territory’s Jewish communities. In exchange for Israel keeping some land, the Jewish state will give the PA control of Arab Israeli cities north of Tel Aviv which, together with the evacuated West Bank territory, would amount to the equivalent of 100 percent of the West Bank.”

On the face of it, this looks like a great compromise since it also helps to accomplish another goal, that of reducing the number of non-Jewish residents in Israel. For years, one of Israel’s growing fears has been that left alone the so-called Arab population in Israel would soon exceed the Jewish population creating the likelihood that one day the Arabs could in effect vote Israel out of existence. (This is a primary motivation behind the PA insisting on the “refugees” right of return to Israel.)

Of course the fatal flaw in his thinking from the human standpoint is that Moslem nations don’t want peace with Israel. They’re only going along with this peace initiative to weaken Israel enough to make their ultimate destruction of the Jewish State possible. To this end, having territory that puts them within rocket range of Tel Aviv could be very attractive.

But even if they did want peace, Peres has another problem. It’s the same one he’s always had. The land isn’t his to give. The land must not be sold permanently, because the land is mine and you are but aliens and my tenants. (Lev. 25:23) Letting Biblical lands go out of their hands violates one of the provisions they agreed to when the Lord gave it to them.

It’s like me renting a house from you and then selling it to someone else and keeping the money. It would violate our rental agreement. If I offered a defense to the effect that I no longer recognized the rental agreement as binding upon me, that wouldn’t excuse my actions in the eyes of the law. You’d be justified in doing whatever was necessary to get your house back, and making sure I was punished for my illegal behavior in the process.

The legal basis upon which Israel justified returning the Sinai to gain peace with Egypt in 1978 was that it wasn’t part of the Biblical grant. Israel’s southern border was the Wadi al Arish, called the River of Egypt in some translations of Genesis 15:18, and didn’t include the Sinai. But since Israel began to trade West Bank and Gaza territory away, they not only haven’t improved their chances for peace but instead have become more vulnerable to war. It’s because that land isn’t theirs to give.

No one yet knows whether this latest move by Peres will be successful. EU officials are pressuring the US to include it in the agenda for a proposed November Mid-East Peace summit. True to form, PA officials, seeing that they might get their West Bank land, are adding another pre-condition to the negotiations. They now say that Israel must give up all rights to the Temple Mount before any other negotiations can begin. Astonishingly, PM Olmert says he’s considering at least granting joint sovereignty.

The pressure is on everyone, and only the Moslems seem to be negotiating from a position of strength. Pres. Bush has his legacy to consider and needs something to take the spot light off Iraq. Peace in the Mid-East, however fragile, could do that. PM Olmert’s approval ratings are the only ones in the world lower than the US Congress, and he’s desperate to improve them. At times like this, politicians everywhere have a tendency to ignore the long range consequences of their actions in favor of short term approval.

But if a two state solution does come to pass, it will be due primarily to the efforts of Shimon Peres, father of the land for peace doctrine. The man whose name means divided will have successfully divided the Biblical lands of Israel, at least for a time. It’s a move sure to get the attention of the One who owns it. He’d be justified in doing whatever was necessary to get His land back, and making sure Israel is punished for its illegal behavior in the process. God help us all. My Thoughts. 08-22-07

Commentary by Jack Kelley

Just before He was crucified, the Lord told His disciples that as the End of the Age approached we would experience an increase of wars and rumors of war. Nation would rise against nation and Kingdom against Kingdom, He said.

In just one day this week (June 6, 2007) the headlines in my inbox from the various news and intelligence services I follow showed just how true the Lord’s prophecies have become. As usual most of the action is in the Middle East. Here are the headlines with a little summary thrown in.

Another Middle East War Erupts Wednesday As 50,000 Turkish Troops Invade N. Iraq To Strike Rebel Kurdish PKK Bases

A total estimated by various news agencies of from 100K-250K troops are amassed along the Turkish border with Iraq, which Turkey has declared a military zone. Initial attacks met with heavy resistance from the Kurds.

Turkey is afraid that the US will grant the Kurdish people greater autonomy in Northern Iraq, and indeed the US Army has withdrawn from the area turning responsibility for maintaining order over to the Kurds. Since parts of the historic Kurdish homeland are in Turkey and Iran as well as Iraq, and since Kurdish nationals have struggled long and hard to regain them, having a strong independent Kurdish presence on their borders has both Turkey and Iran upset, especially since that region includes oil reserves large enough to fund a Kurdish nationalist movement.

Syria Holds Back Full-Scale War With Israel As Last Resort While Its Proxies Win Low-Intensity Conflicts In Lebanon And Gaza
Syria is behind the Palestinian eruptions both in Gaza and the Lebanese refugee camps. The goal is to have them fight a war of attrition with Israel to wear down Jewish resistance so Syria can get a better deal at the peace table. Failing that, they’re preparing for all out war, as the next headline will confirm. So far this strategy seems to be working since against all public opinion, Israeli PM Olmert has offered to return the Golan Heights to Syria in exchange for Syria’s disengagement from Iran and Hizballah.

Syrian Official: Syria Preparing for War with Israel
A member of the Syrian parliament, Muhammad Habash, confirmed today that his country was actively preparing for war with Israel, expected to break out in the summer, Israel Radio reported. Former Iranian President Rafsanjani has also predicted war in the Middle East this summer.

In fact both Syria and Iran are absolutely convinced that the US and Israel have agreed on a joint plan whereby the US will launch a massive missile attack on Iran later this year while Israel simultaneously goes after Syria. Iran has just concluded an arms purchase from Russia valued at $765 million to help prepare Syria.

IDF Intelligence Research Chief Confirms Hizballah Is Rebuilding Strongholds South Of Litani And Preparing For A Summer War
If war does break out, Hizballah will be there in force having been restored to its full capabilities by Iran and Syria. The Litani River is the boundary below which Hizballah is forbidden to operate, but they’re currently working right under the noses of the UN forces in violation of the UN cease fire resolution. Some think that Syria will order Hizballah to move directly against the UN forces next. The IDF (Israel Defense Force) says it’s ready for any contingency on its northern border and can switch from defensive to offensive posture on a moment’s notice.

Ahmadinijad’s Bluster Boosted By Secret Deal For North Korean Taep’o-Dong-2 Ballistic Missiles

Delivery to Iran has been promised for late July to early August 2007. With a 3500-4000 KM range the acquisition of these missiles will triple the Iranian long-range missile arsenal and improve both range and accuracy, putting Eastern European and Israeli cities and regional US military installations well within range.

Putin Threatens To Aim ICBM’s At Europe To Counter US Anti-Iran Missile Shield
Although the installations are purely defensive and pose no threat to anyone, Russian President Putin is making a huge fuss over them by threatening European capitals. He’s trying to scare the Europeans into forcing the US into abandoning the project. Europe may have to decide whose missiles they want aimed at them, Russia’s or Iran’s.

Document: Iran Caught Red-Handed Shipping Arms to Taliban – ABC News

NATO officials say they have caught Iran red-handed, shipping heavy arms, C4 explosives and advanced roadside bombs to the Taliban for use against NATO forces, in what the officials say is a dramatic escalation of Iran’s proxy war against the United States and Great Britain.

And for those of you wondering how the prophecies calling for the End Times destruction of Babylon could possibly refer to that ancient city in Iraq …

Want Middle East Stability? Move UN to Babylon – Washington Post
Two journalists, writing for the Washington Post, have proposed this idea. “While moving the U.N. headquarters to Venezuela or Iran is probably not wise,” they write, “Moving it to Iraq might be a strategic coup. There is even a ready-made location for it—Saddam Hussein’s 600-room palace and compound constructed over the remains of the ancient city of Babylon. Americans might even consider footing the bill for the relocation.”

In this proposal they make the claim that moving the UN out of America would make many people around the world a lot happier as it would be seen as less of a pawn of the US, and putting it in Babylon could help to create and maintain peace in Iraq. Here’s an idea whose time has come.

Summary
Not since the war of 1967 have so many different countries been talking about and preparing for war. While I don’t see the Battle of Ezekiel in all of this, the summer of 2007 could well see the final pieces of the puzzle falling into place in advance of it. Turkey and Iran have a common interest in seeing the Kurds contained and it could be strong enough to pull Turkey into the Moslem coalition. If Syria promises peace for the return of the Golan, and the Palestinians trade peace for the West Bank, or if Israel finally takes the gloves off and defeats them all, there could be a change of circumstances in the Middle East as dramatic as the “sudden” collapse of the Soviet Union. The fact that it will all be built on a foundation of lies and deceit will escape most peoples’ notice. Better stay alert. 06-08-07

Commentary by Jack Kelley

For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. (2 Timothy 4:3)

As a management consultant I was often asked how much employees should know about the workings of their company, especially in financial matters. My advice was always the same. If you don’t tell them the truth, they’ll make up their own version and it will be detrimental to the company’s profits.

For example, after taxes your neighborhood super market may only get to keep as little as 1/2 of one penny for every dollar’s worth of sales. That means it takes $200 in sales to net them one dollar of profit. Admittedly, this is one of the lowest returns on sales in the business world. The average is 3-5 cents on the dollar. But according to surveys, the public thinks the average business makes a 35% profit on sales. They think it would only take $3 in sales to generate one dollar of profit. So would an employee be more concerned about wasting (or stealing) a dollar’s worth of inventory or supplies if he believed it only took $3 in sales to make up for it, or if he knew that it takes $200?

“People can’t tolerate a vacuum of information” I said, “Better they should know the truth than be susceptible to fantasy.”

History Written In Advance

“I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols. See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” (Isaiah 42:8-9)

The Lord has always used advance disclosure to validate Himself. We call it prophecy. Knowing the end from the beginning, He told His people things that hadn’t happened, so that when they did, they would know that He is Who He claims to be. Since we know the truth about Him, we’re not susceptible to fantasy.

But there’s one area where the Lord has not been crystal clear where End Times events are concerned and that’s the timing of the Rapture. For this reason the most outlandish formulas surface whenever world events take a significant turn for the worse, as people look for reasons to believe our time here is nearly up. Many of these formulas can be easily debunked with only a tiny bit of knowledge and discernment, but for some reason they gain traction in the Christian community because of our desire to believe what our itching ears want to hear. Not knowing the truth about the timing of the Rapture, we’re susceptible to fantasy.

I’ll ignore the dates arrived at by the cults and kooks and focus only on things taught by believers. Probably the most notorious of these was the booklet entitled “88 Reasons Why The Rapture Will Be In 1988″ by Edgar C. Whisenant, but the latest example I’ve run across has to do with Noah and the Flood. It goes like this.

Genesis 7:11 says that Noah and his family went into the Ark on the 17th day of the 2nd month. Using Rosh Hashannah as the beginning of the Jewish year, someone calculated that the 17th day of the 2nd month would correspond to November 8th of this year. They also determined that Noah died 2006 years after Adam and declared that because the Rapture of the Church would be “as in the days of Noah” the Church would be raptured on Nov. 8, 2006. It didn’t happen.

Do Your Homework

Anyone willing to do a little studying could have predicted the outcome. In the first place, Matt. 24:37-39 says, “As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

From beginning to end, the context of Matt. 24 in general and this portion in particular is the second coming, not the rapture.

Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left. (Matt. 24:40-41)

As we’ve demonstrated before, the word that’s translated taken here actually means received, and the one translated left means to put away. In the Rapture, some are received, to be sure, but none are put away. Those not received unto the Lord are simply left in place to endure the end times judgments. Verses 40 and 41 describe tribulation survivors left standing when the Lord returns. The believers are received into the Kingdom and the unbelievers are put away into the place of judgment.

The really mind boggling thing about the Nov. 8 concoction is that because of the context, only those who see the Rapture and the 2nd Coming as simultaneous events can justify interpreting verses 40 and 41 as rapture verses, and even they have to overlook the primary meanings of the Greek words there. But the Nov. 8 proponents apparently used this passage to justify a pre-trib Rapture. What were they thinking?

As It Was In The Days Of Noah

Jesus said that the day of His coming would resemble the events of Noah’s flood. Before the flood, He said, people were going about their lives right up to the day Noah entered the Ark. Then the flood came and took them all away. All means everyone. Noah and His family were taken away in the Ark and emerged in a new world. The flood took the rest away to their judgment.

Before the Lord’s return, people will be going about their lives right up to the day of His return. Then He’ll judge them and send them all away. Again, all means everyone. Believing Tribulation survivors, having entered into the “Ark of our Salvation” will be received into the Kingdom. The rest will be put away for judgment.

The “Days of Noah” can also be interpreted in a broader sense as a model of the End Times. In the Days of Noah there was the unbelieving world that perished in the Flood, Noah and his family who were preserved through the Flood, and Enoch who was taken live into Heaven before the Flood. At the End of the Age the unbelieving world will perish as a result of the Tribulation judgments. The remnant of Israel will be preserved through these judgments, and the Church will be taken live into heaven before they begin.

But this is a wider view than can be supported by Matt. 24:37-41 alone. There the Lord was referring specifically to the Day of His Return.

What’s Your Point?

My point in all this to remind us that we shouldn’t take anything any Bible teacher says at face value, no matter how credentialed he or she might be, and no matter how much we’d like to believe what’s being said. Wishing won’t make it so. Like the Bereans, we should receive the message with great eagerness but examine the Scriptures every day to see if what’s being said is true. (Acts 17:11)

The more we learn about what enduring the End times judgments will entail, and the closer we get to the time of their coming, the scarier things can be for us. But here’s where faith comes into play. The Lord has promised to rescue us from their time and place and from any relation to them (1 Thes. 1:10) and we have to be content with that.

He admonished us to be aware of the general times in which we live, and to avoid being taken off guard, but also told us that we wouldn’t know the exact time of our deliverance. When we get caught up in bad doctrine, no matter how well intended, we demonstrate the weakness of our faith, not its strength. Our even weaker brothers and sisters get discouraged and lose heart, and the unbelieving world laughs us to scorn when our incorrectly selected time comes and goes.

What Time Is It?

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. (Romans 11:25)

The Greek word translated full number in this verse is a nautical term and was used to describe the number of sailors and soldiers required to operate a ship. Until he had a crew of sufficient size the captain couldn’t leave port, so he had to recruit the “full number” of crewmen. The Greek word translated into the phrase “come in” refers to a destination.

I believe their use in Romans 11:25 means that the Church has a pre-determined membership, the “full number”, and when that number is reached we’ll depart for our destination. If so, that means that the Rapture is a number specific event, not a date specific one. This may be the simplest reason of all why we can’t know the exact day or hour. Maybe there isn’t one.

The idea of variable timing isn’t without precedent in Scripture. When Jesus warned the Jews living in Israel at the end of the age to flee when they see the abomination that causes desolation, He told them to pray that their flight wouldn’t be in winter or on the Sabbath. (Matt. 24:20) Does that mean that although the event is certain to happen, the date is not fixed? Would the Lord have them pray for something so important in vain? Remember, Jews can only take 1000 steps on the Sabbath, and then they have to stop or risk breaking the Law. And Judean winters can be miserable. (I was there for the worst one in 150 years on my first trip to Israel in 1994.)

If that’s the case, and we do have some say over the timing, then the best way to hasten our departure is to help the “captain” by recruiting more “crewmen”. If each one of us brought one with us, we could double the size of the Church almost overnight. Then maybe the Rapture would come next week. And if it didn’t, at least we’d have a bunch of excited new believers around instead of having discouraged some more of the ones we already have with another failed rapture date. Isn’t that a better strategy than falling for one more “sure-fire” formula for the date of the Rapture? Selah 11-18-06