I tell you, it’s so confusing with the various viewpoints of eschatology; preterist, futurist, premillennial, amillennial, postmillennial, pre-trib, mid-trib, post-trib. Who knows what to think? It’s unfortunate there is so much fuzziness with interpretation of prophecy among Christ’s followers. Why can’t we all agree on the facts?
The reason we can’t all agree on prophecy is that we can’t all agree to take God at His word. Historically man has looked around him and adapted his interpretation of prophecy to fit his view of the world, instead of adapting his view of the world to fit the clear teaching of prophecy.
For example, prior to 1900 how many people thought that, after leaving His land empty and His people scattered for all those centuries, God would bring them back? Sure the Bible said He would, but after so long man became skeptical.
Some devised allegorical interpretations to make sense of these prophecies, while others said God replaced Israel with the Church and said the prophecies were meant for us. Still others said that all prophecy was fulfilled in the first century and is a matter of history to us. Some of those alternate views persist even though Israel is a nation again and is back in the land God promised them, just like Bible prophecy foretold.
But after 25 years of study on the subject, I’m persuaded that taken literally and in the proper context, the Bible only supports one End Times Scenario and that’s the pre-trib rapture followed by seven years of judgments, the Second Coming, and a 1000 year Millennial Kingdom with Jesus as King of the whole Earth. All other views of the End Times require at least some degree of allegorization and/or reinterpretation of God’s Word. The clear message from the Old Testament is that unless we’re clearly directed to do otherwise, we”re to take God at His word. Here’s one example;
“I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. What I have said, that will I bring about. What I have planned, that will I do.” (From Isaiah 46:9-11)