This post launches a new section of Theology 101. Start here. What did Jesus and the apostolic community really believe about the Second Coming, according to the New Testament? Did they believe in a pre-tribulation rapture and then a Second Coming? Or did all of them have a simple and streamlined and consistent and unified view of the end?
Let’s begin our study.
I. Introduction
A. Meaning of eschatology
Recall that eschatology literally means “study of the end times or final things,” as the title of this post says.
B. No more complications
The American evangelical church has complicated this topic. Let’s see if we can simplify it and discover this hypothesis, namely, whether the four Gospels, Acts, and epistles present a unified, streamlined doctrine.
Finding the unity of Scripture on a subject is a benefit to our knowledge of theology. Systematic theology looks at hundreds of verses on one topic and organizes them. As it happens, this hypothesis will be proven true: the Gospels, Acts, and epistles are indeed unified and streamlined on the Second Coming.
C. Polemics not intended
I draw conclusions from the NT passages quoted here, and the conclusions may appear polemical, because one theory dominates (pretribulation rapture and a millennium of a literal thousand years) Therefore, this one theory must be challenged, or so I believe.
D. The Second Coming
To emphasize from the outset, the Second Coming has not happened for two thousand years (and counting). But it is constantly predicted throughout the NT.
E. Final word
All translations in the four Gospels and Acts are mine, unless otherwise noted.
All bold font in the Scripture passages has been added.
I. Synoptic Gospels
A. Brief intro
The quoted verses here agree with all the other ones not quoted. Jesus’s eschatology is consistent and clear and simple, throughout the four Gospels.
The following verses all describe this age contrasted with that age or the age to come or the Messianic age or the kingdom age. Final judgment factors in too. They all refer to the same age of no more troubles and nothing but peace. The Second Coming ushers this in. Then comes the final judgment on that day. The verses are samples of others elsewhere.
B. At that time, on that day, the day
Starting off, “at that time” (= day of judgment in these verses) God will examine our good and bad works at judgment.
26 For what will it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but suffers damage to his life? And what will a person give in exchange for his life? 27 For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then at that time ‘he will reward each person in accordance with his conduct.’ [Pss. 28:4; 62:12; Prov. 24:12] (Matthew 16:26-27 // Mark 8:37-38 // Luke 9:25-27)
Jesus is coming back. What will happen then? Final judgment, based on our good and bad works. Let’s prepare for it. How? By doing good works for the kingdom! In any case, no complications here–no multiple final judgments. No millennium.
That day (singular) refers to the (singular) day of judgment:
21 Not everyone saying to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one doing the will of my Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name? And in your name expel demons? And in your name do many miracles?” 23 And then I will declare to them, “I never knew you! Depart from me, you practitioners of lawlessness!” (Matt. 7:21-23)
Paul agrees with “the Day” being the day of judgment: “their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light.” (1 Cor. 3:13, NIV). Note how our works will be judged on that day.
C. Second Coming ushers in the New Age
The next two passages also contrast this age and the age to come.
28 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth: you who have followed me, in the age of renewal, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, will also sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:28-29)
The age of renewal, in this context, speaks of the next age, the Messianic age. (See Acts 3:21, below, on the renewal or restoration.)
A clear two-part division: this age and the age to come:
29 He said to them, “I tell you the truth: There is no one who has left household or wives or brothers or parents or children because of the kingdom 30 who shall not receive in return many times as much in this age and eternal life in the age to come.” (Luke 18:29-30)
What we do in this age, like giving up some things and working for the kingdom, will count in the age to come. Our living the self-sacrificial life–the crucified life (Luke 9:23)–in this age will put us on a reward trajectory of good things in the next age.
The closing out of this age, the Parable of the Wheat and Weeds (Explained). “That time” refers to the day of judgment, when the righteous and unrighteous will be judged together.
36 At that time he dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 37 In reply, he said, “The one who sows is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world. And the good seed are the sons and daughters of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons and daughters of the evil one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the harvesters are the angels. 40 So then just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the close of the age. 41 The Son of Man shall send out his angels, and they shall gather from out of his kingdom all causes of sin and those practicing lawlessness. 42 And they shall throw them in the fiery oven; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 At that time the righteous shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Anyone who has ears—let him hear!” (Matt. 13:36-43)
So the righteous survive judgment and will shine like the sun. The kingdom of their Father is the eternal kingdom. No word on a literal millennium.
The Parable of the Net also says one judgment at the close (= end) of this age, to separate evil people from the righteous:
47 Again the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet thrown into the lake and gathers all kinds of things. 48 When it is full, they haul it up on to the beach and sit and gather the good ones into containers, and they threw the bad things outside. 49 It shall be like this at the close of the age. The angels shall go forth and separate the evil people from the middle of the righteous people. 50 And they shall throw them into the fiery oven. In that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 13:47-50)
No multiple final judgments, and no millennium (Jesus never taught a literal thousand-year reign). The righteous and unrighteous will be judged together, at the end of this age.
This next verse comes from the Great Commission, a fitting close to Matthew’s Gospel, which had many verses about this age ending some time in our future and the next age taking over.
And remember this: I am with you every day, until the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20)
One age will end, implying another age–the Messianic age–will take over:
One note before we get to the Gospel of John. It is clear that Matthew has the fullest teaching on the end times, particularly his (truly) magnificent chapters 24 and 25. But Mark and Luke, whenever they teach the end times, are in agreement with Matthew. See the many links, below, for the textual evidence.
D. The one day of judgment
20 Then he began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles were done, because they did not repent. 21 Woe to you Chorazin, woe to you Bethsaida! Because if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, long ago they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes! 22 However, I tell you it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you! 23 And you Capernaum: Will you be exalted to the heavens? You will go down to Hades! [Is. 14:13, 15] Because if the miracles done in you had been done in Sodom, it would remain to this day! 24 However, I tell you that it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you!” (Matt. 11:20-24)
No multiple days of judgment. Uncomplicated teaching. Consistent.
Yet another same, single day of judgment:
For from the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good person from his good treasure brings forth good things. And the evil person from his evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 And I tell you that every careless word which people shall speak, they shall return an account for it on the day of judgment. 37 For by your words you shall be vindicated, or by your words you shall be condemned. (Matt. 12:34-37)
Again, no multiple days of judgment. Jesus’s teaching is streamlined and consistent and clear. And final judgment is based on works (and now words).
We already saw this passage above, but this is online writing, so I can quote it again in this new section without fear of the cost per printed page. The closing out of this age: the Parable of the Wheat and Weeds (Explained). “That time” refers to the day of judgment, when the righteous and unrighteous will be judged together.
36 At that time he dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.” 37 In reply, he said, “The one who sows is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world. And the good seed are the sons and daughters of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons and daughters of the evil one. 39 The enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the close of the age, and the harvesters are the angels. 40 So then just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the close of the age. 41 The Son of Man shall send out his angels, and they shall gather from out of his kingdom all causes of sin and those practicing lawlessness. 42 And they shall throw them in the fiery oven; in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 At that time the righteous shall shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Anyone who has ears—let him hear!” (Matt. 13:36-43)
So the righteous survive judgment and will shine like the sun. The kingdom of their Father is the eternal kingdom. No word on a literal millennium. No word on a pretribulation rapture.
The Parable of the Net also says one judgment at the close (= end) of this age, to separate evil people from the righteous:
47 Again the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet thrown into the lake and gathers all kinds of things. 48 When it is full, they haul it up on to the beach and sit and gather the good ones into containers, and they threw the bad things outside. 49 It shall be like this at the close of the age. The angels shall go forth and separate the evil people from the middle of the righteous people. 50 And they shall throw them into the fiery oven. In that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matt. 13:47-50)
No multiple final judgments, and no millennium (Jesus never taught a literal thousand-year reign). The righteous and unrighteous will be judged together, at the end of this age.
This next verse comes from the Great Commission, a fitting close to Matthew’s Gospel, which had many verses about this age ending some time in our future and the next age taking over.
And remember this: I am with you every day, until the end of the age.” (Matt. 28:20)
One age will end, implying another age–the Messianic age–will take over:
Quick summary: In the Parable of the Wheat and Weeds, particularly Matthew 13:39-43; and in the Parable of the Net, particularly Matthew 13:49-50; and in Matthew 16:27; and in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats in Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus clearly teaches that the end of This Age and the new Messianic Age (or Kingdom Age or the Age to Come) are ushered in right after the Second Coming; and the judgment of the righteous and the wicked happen at the same time.
It is clear that Matthew has the fullest teaching on the end-times, particularly his (truly) magnificent chapters 24 and 25. But Mark and Luke, whenever they teach the end times, are in agreement with Matthew.
E. Three main Synoptic chapters on the Olivet Discourse
I further note in passing that Matt. 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21:5-38 (and Luke 17), all parallel eschatological (end-time) passages in the Synoptic Gospels, nowhere teach a separate and distinct rapture happening before the Second Coming. To find in those three chapters a rapture separated by years from the Second Coming is to import this prior belief into them and atomize them beyond their context. This is eisegesis (leading into a text), not exegesis (leading out of a text). Exegesis is better than eisegesis. Such complications violate the best biblical hermeneutics: keep things clear and simple.
See my post, here:
The next ones form the foundation of the summarized previous one.
Matthew 24:4-35 Predicts Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple
Matt. 24:36 to 25:46–From Second Coming to New Messianic Age
Mark 13:5-31 Predicts Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple
Mark 13:32-37 Teaches Second Coming
Luke 21:5-33 Predicts Destruction of Jerusalem and Temple (Luke is by far the clearest on this topic)
Luke 17:22-37 and 21:34-36 Teach the Second Coming
II. The Gospel of John
A. The final judgment
These verses are about the final judgment, and both the practitioners of wickedness and the doers of good will be judged together:
28 Do not be amazed at this because the hour is coming when those in their tombs will hear his voice 29 and come out: those doing good things to the resurrection of life, but the ones practicing wickedness to the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:28-29)
Both the good-deed doers and the bad-deed doers will rise together at final judgment. The resurrection of the redeemed and unredeemed happen at the same time. Coming out of their tomb is a rapture of sorts (see John 6, next). Those verses supply an additional context to the ones in John 6.
B. Raised up on the last day
Jesus focused on one idea in John 6:39, 40, 44, 54. In those verses he said that on the last day he will raise up (from the dead) everyone who believes in him. That is, their bodies will be raised up. Once again, this resurrection happens on the last day.
39 This is the will of the one who sent me: That everyone whom he gives me I will not lose any of them, but I will raise them up on the last day. (39)
40 For this is the will of my Father: everyone who sees the Son and believes in him may have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. … (40)
44 No one can come to me unless the one who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day. … (44)
54 The one eating my flesh and drinking my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. (54)
This “raising up” is a kind of “rapture,” which happens at the Second Coming and on the last day. So it is wrong to claim that Jesus did not teach the rapture. He did.
So there is unity of doctrine between the four Gospels.
C. John 14
Does it teach some sort of “first second” coming or rapture before the Second Coming? No.
1. Scripture
2 In my Father’s house are many dwelling places [monai, plural]. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go, I will prepare a place for you, and I am coming again and I will take you along to myself, so that where I am you also may be”. … 23 In reply, Jesus said to him [Judas, not Iscariot], “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and the Father will love him, and we will come to him and will make our dwelling place [monē, singular] with him.” (John 14:2-3, 23)
2.. Exegesis
The Greek noun monē (pronounced moh-nay) is an extremely rare word, and it means “dwelling(-place), room, abode” (so says BDAG, considered by many to be the authoritative lexicon of the Greek NT). It can be used in a spiritual sense. The KJV translated it as “mansion,” after the Latin, but this term is misleading for English speakers. We need to interpret the Greek term by only one other appearance in the entire NT (v. 23).
And 14:23 argues against 14:2-3 being properly interpreted as the Second Coming or a rapture before the Second Coming, because the Father and the Son will come and make a room or dwelling-place or abode for the disciple. In contrast, the doctrine of the Second Coming or separate rapture says that the Father does not come back; the Son does.
John 14, in contrast, is about Jesus going away at his resurrection and ascension and not leaving his disciples (then and now) as orphans, but the Father and Son will come to them through the Spirit, who will live in them (vv. 17-18). Only by the Spirit’s coming can we do greater works than Jesus did (v. 12), after he goes to the Father (= resurrection and ascension).
More on v. 18: “I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you.” This coming is through the Spirit (v. 17); if not, then Jesus’s ascension without his coming in some form would in fact leave them as orphans and for us two thousand years later. But he is coming to them not only during his post-Resurrection appearances, but also by the Spirit after his ascension (to them and to us today).
In John 14 nowhere does Jesus say the last day in the chapter, as he did in John 6:39, 40, 44, 54. And John 5:28-29 says “an hour” that is coming, but this is about the final resurrection and the final judgment. Also John 11:24 says that the resurrection happens on the last day. Those verses are about the Second Coming and unrealized eschatology (still unfulfilled until the last day).
It is true that Jesus says “on that day” (v. 20), but clearly this time marker is still about the resurrection and ascension and the coming of the Spirit (v. 19) because Jesus is in the Father, and “you are in me and I am also in you.” Only the Spirit can create this kind of unity and intimacy. The world will not see him before long, but the disciples will see him (again the resurrection and ascension). And he intends to show himself to the disciples but not to the world (v. 22). As it turned out, the disciples saw him in his resurrected state, but the world did not. The world has not received the Spirit, but the disciples have.
The Father and the Son come and make a room monē for the disciple (v. 23) in the Father’s house (v. 2). Further, v. 26 speaks of the Father sending the Holy Spirit. The coming of the Spirit, which happened in John 20:21-22, and the Second Coming do not go together but are now separated by two thousand years (and counting).
Therefore, the main point of John 14 is that the Father and Son send the Holy Spirit and through him they prepare rooms for Jesus’s disciples, in their Father’s house, here on earth, if they love him and keep his word or teaching.
Therefore, to repeat, John 14 is not a teaching on the Second Coming or separate rapture, whether at the same time or years apart. It is a different kind of “coming again.”
3.. What Is the dwelling-place?
It is probably a room in the new temple (= the church) (cf. John 2:19-21). John 14:2 says “in my Father’s house.” This likely refers to the church / temple. The church being the new temple is a clear teaching of the New Testament.
Instead, the Greek verb of monē is menõ (“dwell”), and it is used in v. 10 for the Father dwelling in the Son; the Son is in the Father and the Father is in the Son. Verse 17 says clearly that the Spirit will dwell (menõ) with us. He had not yet been sent (John 7:36-39), but he is about to be sent. When he is, he will dwell with and in the disciples. The dwelling place or dwelling places is the disciples’ same intimacy with the Father and the Son by the Spirit (vv. 16-17).
4.. Conclusion
All of this is to say, once again, that John 14 is about the coming of the Father and Son through the Spirit who brings us intimacy with the Father and the Son and each other. Only the Spirit can link us all up in heaven and earth at the same time and provide such intimacy. The room or dwelling place is this intimate belonging to the Father’s house–to the Father and Son by the Holy Spirit and collectively in the church. So the dwelling place is really about the same intimacy between the Father and the Son being offered to the disciples who love Jesus and keep his teaching. They will not be orphans when he ascends.
III. Summary of Jesus’s Teaching
A. Brief intro.
Here is a summary of his teaching about the end times, covering verses quoted above and even the ones not quoted here (see the many links at the bottom of this post).
B. This age versus that age
The main point is about this age contrasted with that age, and how the Second Coming or parousia ushers in final judgment on one day and then the new Messianic age, the eternal kingdom.
But first the inaugurated kingdom. When Jesus came the first time and was in the process of inaugurating the kingdom of God, the kingdom came subtly and mysteriously. When he comes a second time, his inaugurated kingdom will be fully accomplished or realized.
C. Sequence charts
Here it is in a flow chart with sequential arrows:
________________← This Age –—–→| End of This Age
What causes the end of this age? The Parousia (Second Coming), as follows:
First Coming → Inaugurated Kingdom → Parousia → Messianic Age / Kingdom Age / The Age to Come (now realized)
Before the kingdom is fully realized at his Second Coming, the kingdom is announced and ushered in by Jesus at the launch of his ministry. So there is overlap between this age and the fully realized kingdom age or that age. The Messianic Age, Kingdom Age and the Age to Come all mean the same thing, the same reality.
D. Fuller sequence chart
Now let’s add one more event: final judgment. In Matt. 13:36-43: In the Parable of the Wheat and Weeds, particularly Matt. 13:39-43; and in the Parable of the Net, particularly Matt. 13:49-50; and in Matt. 16:27; and in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matt. 25:31-46), Jesus clearly teaches that the end of this age and the new Messianic age (or kingdom age or the age to come) are ushered in right after the Second Coming; and the judgment of the righteous and the wicked happen at the same time. This is what we also observed in John 5:28-29 and many other verses.
We can depict things in this flow chart, again with sequenced arrows:
First Coming → Inaugurated Kingdom → Second Coming → Judgment → Messianic Age / Kingdom Age / Age to Come (now realized)
The Second Coming (Parousia) stops this age. Then there is one big judgment, in which the righteous and wicked are judged together. We can even say that the final judgment happens during or just before the Messianic age / kingdom age / the age to come. (All three terms mean the same thing.) Finally, the kingdom which Jesus inaugurated at his first coming will have been fully realized and accomplished at his Second Coming (parousia), after judgment. And so after God sweeps aside the wicked and Satan and demons, the New Messianic or Kingdom Age can begin with his true and pure and undisrupted rulership.
E. Bottom line:
Jesus’s teaching is consistent with this flow chart with sequential arrows:
First Coming → Inaugurated Kingdom —→ Second Coming → Judgment → Fully Realized Kingdom Age
I do not yet include New Creation because it is assumed in the fully realized kingdom age. See Revelation 21-22.
IV. Acts
A. Brief intro
The Book of Acts says very little about the end times, thankfully, because the Christians were too busy pushing back the kingdom of darkness by preaching the gospel of salvation which rescues people from demonic clutches and darkness. They were too busy fulfilling the Great Commission. Here are a few verses about their eschatology:
B. Teaching at Pentecost
Peter refers to the prophet Joel, who says “in the last days”:
16 No, this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:
17 “‘In the last days, God says,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people. (Acts 2:16-17, NIV)
Note that God is ushering in the last days at Pentecost, so we have overlapping ages, this one, and the new one, just like Jesus taught. Once again the plural, last days (to me), intensifies the new age that has been presently dawning. (See above, Answering an Objection, for more explanations.)
Please note that some interpreters teach that the “last days” in 2:16 refers to the last days of the religion of Moses. Now a major shift has happened with Jesus and the New Covenant. Therefore “last days” does not refer to the the gradual end of this entire world and this age. So Acts 2:16 is irrelevant to our discussion. Their interpretation makes a lot of sense to me.
C. Restoration of all things
Peter preaches that God will restore all things:
Heaven must receive him until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. (Acts 3:21, NIV)
To me, this restoration looks like Matthew’s renewal of all things, quoted above (Matt. 18:28).
D. Jesus the judge
Peter says that God appointed Jesus to judge the living and the dead:
He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. (Acts 10:42, NIV)
Those who are alive when Christ comes and those who had died when he comes = the living and the dead. So judgment happens at one and the same time. This verse agrees with the ones, for example, in Matthew 25:12, 30, and 46 (and 13:36-43, 37-50), John 5:28-29 and others.
Those who are alive when Christ comes and those who had died when he comes = the living and the dead. So judgment happens at one and same time. This verse agrees with the ones, for example, in Matthew 13:36-43, 37-50, John 5:28-29. and so on.
Paul says the same thing in his discourse in Athens, to unbelievers:
For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17:31, NIV)
E. Paul to Felix and Drusilla:
15 I have hope in God, which they themselves accept, that there will soon be a resurrection to come, both of the righteous and unrighteous. (Acts 24:15)
As Paul talked about righteousness, self-control and the judgment to come […] (Acts 24:25, NIV)
There is nothing complicated about any of those verses. No two-stage return, no multiple judgments, no multiple “first” resurrections. No literal thousand-year reign. Everything happens at the same time, at the end of this age and the beginning of the next age. There is no separation of this judgment: the righteous at the beginning of the thousand years, and the unrighteous after the thousand years. No, both the righteous and unrighteous will be raised and then judged together.
F. Summary
The apostles’ streamlined and simple eschatology in Acts does not contradict their streamlined and simple eschatology in their epistles. And their eschatology in Acts and their epistles agrees with Jesus’s streamlined and simple eschatology in the four Gospels.
Simplicity, unity, and consistency. The apostolic community taught Jesus’s message about the end times.
V. Epistles
A. Paul
Paul also combines the return of Christ with the end and the day of Jesus:
Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed. 8 He will also keep you firm to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 1:7-8, NIV).
Paul agrees that “the day” of the Lord means both the coming of the Lord and final judgment: […] “that you can boast of us just as we will boast of you in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Cor. 1:14, NIV).
Unity of doctrine between the four Gospels and the epistles.
Recall Paul’s words of a single day of judgment: […] “the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God ‘will repay each person according to what they have done’” (Rom. 2:5-6).
Paul agrees with the Gospels’ teaching on the last day. In 1 Corinthians 15:51-54 the Second Coming will happen at the resurrection of the dead at the last trumpet.
51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality… (1 Cor. 15:51-54, NIV)
“Rising” and being “raised” is a rapture of sorts.
Further, in 1 Corinthians 15:26 Paul said that the last enemy to be defeated will be death.
“The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26, NIV).
It’s hard to believe that death will still defeat people after an early rapture (before the Second Coming) and that God will need to “redefeat” death a “second first” time at his Second Coming! Too complicated! No, death will no longer defeat people only at the Second Coming, and the rapture and Second Coming are the same event and happen on the last day, as we see in the next passage.
Paul writes that God will come through his Son with a blazing fire, accompanied with angels.
6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might 10 on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you. (2 Thess. 1:6-10, NIV)
God will return through his Son and pay back those who have troubled the Thessalonians. The Son will be revealed with his angels and a blaze of fire. (See Rev. 20:9, which says God will destroy Satan and his cohort with fire from heaven.) This event is not a quiet rapture. And Paul assumes that that he and the Thessalonians–the ones to whom he is writing–will be there when the powerful and world-ending Second Coming appears.
In his epistle to his mentee or disciple Titus, Paul says the same as what Hebrews says (see below), but without the “first” and “second” qualifiers, though it is clear enough there are only two comings:
11 For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age, 13 while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ …. (Titus 2:11-13, NIV)
In v. 11, grace appeared with Jesus’s first coming. Verse 12 says we live godly lives in this present age. Verse 13 says we are waiting for Christ’s appearing in his glory. In both Hebrews and Titus, then, we have this simple sequence of eras. The line means a continuous chronological flow of events without mathematical precision until the Second Coming:
First Coming ————————————→ Second Coming
So Jesus came the first time, being born in Bethlehem, and offered grace and salvation to all people. Before his Second Coming, we are to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions and live self-controlled, upright and godly lives. Then the Second Coming happens, which ends the Church Age as we are currently living it. The Second Coming will be glorious (Ti. 2:13) and visible for all. This was Paul’s perfect chance to insert a teaching about a rapture distinct from the Second Coming, but he did not. Why not? No complicated, convoluted reasoning here: he simply believed in a first coming of the Son of God and a Second Coming of the Son of God.
B. Hebrews
The author of Hebrews says that there are only two comings: the first and second:
But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. (Heb. 9:26-28; NIV)
Jesus first appeared at his birth, and after that time he ministered and put away sin by sacrificing himself. Then he will appear a second time for those eagerly waiting for him. This saving will be a deliverance from the present evil age and from a negative judgment. Why didn’t the author of Hebrews discuss a separate rapture? Here was his perfect chance.
Of course a teacher of the separate rapture could say that those verses do speak of a rapture because he comes a second time to save those who wait for him. In reply, however, v. 27 is about the judgment of everyone; this separate rapture only shifts the question to why the author did not speak of the Second Coming. He was keeping the church “noninformed.”
The truth is simpler: He did not warn the church about a rapture distinct from the Second Coming or parousia because he believed only in two comings: the first and second.
C. Peter
Peter writes the same thing about the “end”:
“The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray” (1 Peter 4:7, NIV)
The end speaks of a new day, a new age and the end of this age. This agrees with the four Gospels and the other epistles.
Here are Peter’s words about the day of judgment being one day:
“Then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2:9, NIV).
And here:
“By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly” (2 Peter 3:7, NIV)
Peter says that on the day of the Lord, the heavens and earth will change and even be destroyed, but then comes new creation:
10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells. (2 Peter 3:10-13, NIV)
There are no intervening days or multiple judgments or several new ages or a secret rapture. The Second Coming ushers in this destruction and then the renewal of the entire universe.
We will look into new creation in the very last post, here:
10 Final and Total Victory of God over Evil and Then Comes His New Creation
D. Summary
The epistles agree with the four Gospels. The sequence charts would therefore be the same for the epistles as they appear in the Gospels.
Our hypothesis is proven true. The Gospels and the epistles are unified and streamlined. There is beauty in simplicity and unity and clarity.
VI. The Revelation
A. Brief intro
I include this section only in passing. Paul and the author of Hebrews knew nothing about the most symbolic book in the Bible because they lived before it was written in the 90s.
B. Date of authorship
Or a few interpreters believe the Revelation was written in the 60s; if so, then in the normal flow of events, documents take a long time to circulate, and Paul and the author of Hebrews show no sign that they knew of it.
It is a sure thing that John wrote his Gospel before he got his visions in the Revelation, which is the most symbolic book in the whole Bible. But even if he did not, then Jesus’s teachings in the Gospels still stand as clearly as can be in straightforward, nonsymbolic, didactic words. The interpretive model of clarity leads me to conclude that the Revelation must submit to the Gospels, Acts, and epistles.
C. Disputed book
I have not gone into detail about debatable verses in the Revelation, because no one interpretation can dominate it and clear away all other interpretations. It is unwise hermeneutics, therefore, to impose Revelation on the clear and straightforward and didactic teachings in Acts, the epistles and the Gospels. Just the opposite is true. The clear verses must interpret and guide us to interpret the unclear, symbolic ones.
D. Last trumpet
I note in passing, nonetheless, that even Rev. 11:15-19 says that the seventh and last trumpet is blown after the mighty tribulation when God finally wins the complete victory. But my thesis does not stand or fall on this book.
E. A deeper look into the Revelation
Someone may ask whether we should discard the book.
No, we should not discard it, but we should no longer stridently stomp through it as if the issues are settled in our complicated systems.
The clearer texts should guide people’s interpretation of the less clear ones. (See the post on Interpretation and the section on the clarity of Scripture.) For example, Revelation 4:1-2 is not a rapture passage, but teachers of the separate rapture before the tribulation have to say it is, because the church must not be around during the tribulation. However, the truth is simpler. John himself and by himself was called by the Spirit to go up and see the visions, alone, not the church as a whole. The clear and didactic and straightforward texts I cite in this post should clarify these teachers’ interpretations of Revelation, so that they don’t import a strange reading into a plain verse.
Another example: some interpreters believe that the seven churches represent different ages within the large Church Age. So the seventh church, Laodicea, which was neither hot nor cold, but lukewarm, was counseled to buy gold refined by fire (purity coming out of trials or persecution), represents this present church age. This typological reading is very stretched. Such interpretations of historical verses–not symbolic ones–need to be reined in. However, I can’t say that this symbolic, dispensational reading is so far off-base that it adds up to heresy, and maybe some tiny elements can be gleaned from the Laodicean church that may be relevant today. Some have become lukewarm, but then people throughout all generations become lukewarm.
Nonetheless, I am so convinced that if we would just take the verses in their textual context and not “out-insight” the original writers, the Bible would become as it should be: streamlined and simpler, without the entanglement of complicated interpretational systems, as interpreters jump from verse to verse and book to book, cobbling them together to build their convoluted outcomes which confuse the Body of Christ. I don’t like to “outsmart” the original and inspired authors who kept their teachings simple, not complicated.
To me, the Revelation was written first for the seven churches in Asia Minor and then by extension for the church of all ages, to warn them of the troubles to come. It is a book about martyrs. Beyond that, the book is the most symbolic of all the other biblical books. Therefore, it is a good idea to let the clear and didactic and straightforward verses laid out in this post guide all interpretations of this book in the Bible.
Clarity guides the unclear portions. My main point: keep the plain thing the main thing in hermeneutics (science of interpretation), and let the clear verses guide the unclear ones.
Restated for clarity: keep the plain thing the main thing in hermeneutics, and let the clear verses guide our interpretation of the unclear ones.
F. Bottom line of NT eschatology
First Coming → Inaugurated Kingdom —→ Second Coming → Judgment → New Creation → Fully Realized Kingdom Age
Revelation 21-22 ends the entire Bible with New Creation. Nothing in the Gospels, Acts, or epistles contradicts this addition. New Creation is the same thing as the fully realized kingdom age. But first we have to watch God re-create the whole universe. Paul and Peter allude to this teaching in their epistles.
Please go here for the references:
10 Final and Total Victory of God over Evil and Then Comes His New Creation
No human was alive when Genesis 1:1 happened. Now our redeemed and transformed eyes will watch God re-create and transform old creation into the New Creation.
VII. Answering Questions and One Objection
A. An Objection
Ephesians 2:7 says future “ages” (plural), so let’s be careful about putting “the age to come” in the singular. There may be many future ages! Paul and Jesus disagree!
Reply: BDAG is an abbreviation for a thick Greek lexicon, which many consider to be authoritative because of all the hard work the editors did in tracking down many passages in the Greek NT, extra-biblical Christian writings, and pagan writings, in which a particular Greek word is used. It is a remarkable achievement in any case.
The editors write about singular age / plural ages (slightly edited): “The plural is often purely formal.” They also say that the singular and plural are “essential equivalence.” And then they cite references to other writings to prove their point, like Ephesians 2:7.
Further, for me, the plural intensifies the one new age, meaning it will go on forever! Count on it! In some contexts, biblical Hebrew can intensify a subject by pluralizing it, and Paul may be picking up on his knowledge of Hebrew in Ephesians 2:7, though of course he was writing in Greek. (Go here for a discussion: Aaron Ember, “The Pluralis Intensivus in Hebrew.” The American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, Jul., 1905, Vol. 21, No. 4 (Jul., 1905), pp. 195-231.)
But if you believe that this intensification does not apply here, then just go with what BDAG says.
So in other words, let’s not make a big thing of the verse that has the plural “ages.”
But if it turns out that there will be many kinds of ages after Christ’s return, then this future is in God’s hands, and I’ll accept anything he has to offer his redeemed people. But I see the plural as coming under one “umbrella” of the Messianic age or kingdom age, whatever may happen in the details. So Paul and Jesus do not disagree, as I see things.
After all, “this age,” before Jesus inaugurated kingdom, may have various seasons and epochs within it, but I see Jesus simplifying and summarizing matters. (John’s Gospel says “the world.”) That is, “this age” is yet another umbrella term under which may cover various epochs and seasons. Or one may even call thee epochs “ages,” yet they fit under the summary term “this age.”
So I don’t see Jesus and the apostolic community and the OT contradicting each other, once the terms are interpreted rightly.
B. What about the church?
Where does it fit in? The Father and the resurrected and ascended Son and the outpoured Spirit, by means of the inaugurated kingdom, created the church at Pentecost (Matt. 16:18; Acts 2:1-4). It exists in this age and preaches the gospel of the kingdom. It will be snatched up or raptured at the Second Coming, meet Jesus in the air, descend with him, and go through final judgment. Then finally they will live forever with their glorified, transformed bodies, in the fully realized kingdom age.
Let’s look more closely at this age which overlaps the inaugurated kingdom. This overlap clarifies the church’s mission. Before and until the Second Coming, we now live in the conflict and battle between this age and the inaugurated kingdom, proclaimed by Jesus during his ministry, and the fully realized kingdom. (This age and the kingdom are not the same things but are at war with each other!) We are in the process of binding Satan and his demonic hordes, by expelling demons from people’s lives but mainly by preaching the gospel, so people may surrender to the Son’s Lordship, for salvation, that is, for safety. And then Satan’s domain is pushed back, and people experience victory in their lives after they are filled with the Spirit.
The gospel and life in the Spirit, coming after Jesus’s ascension in this age, though happening during the inaugurated kingdom, are so powerful that saved and redeemed kingdom citizens can experience victory over the power of sin in their lives in this age. The presence of sin in their lives is not removed until they get their new resurrected and transformed bodies and minds in the age to come. The Second Coming stops this age, which is replaced and displaced with the fully realized Messianic or kingdom age or the age to come.
C. What about the rapture?
So then where does the rapture fit in? There is no separate rapture that makes the church disappear, before the Second Coming. If Jesus believed in a separate rapture, he would have taught it clearly. However, he did not teach it at all. Therefore, he did not believe in a separate rapture. All of it is too convoluted. He teaches that people will be raised up from their graves and he will lift up those alive in Christ, which happens on the last day.
Luke 17:22-37 does not teach the rapture, either:
Luke 17:22-37: Taken Away = Rapture?
At that link, I concluded, after exegesis:
Once again, according to Luke 17:22-37, it is better to be left behind and not taken away to judgment. So “taken away” does not refer to a rapture. Instead, it refers to the day when people are hauled off to undergo the final judgment, as the people in Noah’s and Lot’s days experienced their final judgment.
In modern terms, “taken away” bears the image of a police officer handcuffing a suspect and taking him away in his police car to wait in jail until he stands before a judge.
Instead, in agreement with the epistles, Jesus and the early church taught that when all peoples are called out of their tombs and those who are alive also respond to Christ descending from heaven at the Second Coming, they will be “caught up” (the rapture) and meet the Lord in the air..
Here is the clearest teaching in the NT about the rapture, which means, in Latin, “snatching up” or “catching up” (Latin: rapto, raptura). In Greek the verb harpazô (pronounced hahr-pah-zoh) means the exact same thing: “snatching up” or “catching up.” In the next passage, the dead in Christ will rise first (cf. John 6:39, 40, 44, 54), which is also a kind of rapture, and then the clause “we who are alive” (Paul and the Thessalonians and now us) is linked with the rapture.
15 For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming [parousia] of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep [died]. 16 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. 17 Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up [harpazô = rapture] together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thess. 4:15-17)
The above passage coordinates perfectly with 1 Corinthians 15:25, 51-52 and John 6:39, 40, 44, 54. To interpret 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, the trumpet and the raising (a kind of rapture) of the dead and then snatching up (rapture) of the living occur at the same time or are the same event. And therefore the Second Coming and the rapture occur at the same time. Then we will descend with him and be with him on the reconstituted and renovated and renewed and transformed earth forever.
Why will we descend with him down to earth and remain down here and not shoot back up into heaven in the distinct rapture separated from the Second Coming? The parousia (see 1 Thess. 4:15) by definition means arrival or being there. In its historical context, a parousia happens when a Roman dignitary, like a senator or even the emperor, arrived (parousia) in a Roman colony (e.g. Corinth or back to Rome). At his arrival (parousia), the dignitaries of the city went out to meet him, and they escorted him back into their city. Then they had feasts and games to celebrate his arrival (parousia). The dignitaries in the colony did not board the senator’s or emperor’s ship and abscond away for three-and-a-half or seven years.
See the post:
Also the Greek noun apantēsis (pronounced ah-pahn-TAY-sis) appears in v. 17 and is translated as if a verb (“to meet”). The noun appears only in two other places: Acts 28:15 and Matthew 25:6.
In Acts 28:15-16, the brothers and sisters heard that Paul and his team were in Italy and went out to meet them. Then they escorted him into Rome.
15 The brothers and sisters there had heard that we were coming, and they traveled as far as the Forum of Appius and the Three Taverns to meet us. At the sight of these people Paul thanked God and was encouraged. 16 When we got to Rome, Paul was allowed to live by himself, with a soldier to guard him. (Acts 28:15-16, NIV emphasis added)
They did not go back and board a ship to take off, backwards, to where Paul had come from, and disappear for three-and-a-half or seven years.
Matthew 25:6 says the announcement came that the bridegroom (Christ) has come, so the bridesmaids should go out to meet him (though a noun, the NIV translates it as a verb). Note how they escort him into the house for the wedding festival (v. 10). They do not go backwards and secretly hide away for three-and-a-half or seven years.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’ […] 10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut. (Matt. 25:6, 10, NIV, emphasis added)
The above passage teaches us that Jesus weds his bride (the church) and sets up his endless Messianic kingdom. But first he has to judge the five foolish bridesmaids (25:12), and the unproductive servant (25:30), and the goats (25:46). The context of the entire chapter (Matt. 25) is the close-out of this age and the beginning of the New Messianic Age, when the righteous dwell and shine and when the unbelievers are sent away to outer darkness or fire–forever. The righteous and unrighteous are judged together, just as we saw in John 5:28-29.
Coherence and unity and consistency in Jesus’s streamlined and clear teaching.
When Christ returns and raptures us, we will not shoot back up into heaven from where he came; instead, we will escort him to earth where he will set up his eternal kingdom.
Brief summary (so far): At the parousia, the dead in Christ will rise first (1 Thess. 4:16). Recall that John 6:39, 40, 44, 54 say that the dead will rise on the last day. Paul said the last enemy to be defeated will be death (1 Cor. 15:26). He likewise says this will happen with the blast of the last trumpet (1 Cor. 15:52; see 1 Thess. 4:16).
The Second Coming and rapture happen on the day of the Lord, the final day of the old earth and heavens, right before the final judgment and then new creation and the eternal kingdom.
Then those who have died and are already in heaven will descend with Jesus and those who are alive or are dead will rise with him, and then all of those who do not belong to him and are dead will rise with him. Then every person whoever lived, past and present. believers or unbelievers, will be judged, and the wicked will be sent away to punishment, and the righteous will be welcomed into the Messianic age / kingdom age / the age to come (as distinct from this age). Then the righteous will live in a new heaven and earth, which will have been recreated, renewed, renovated or reconstituted. In other words, the rapture and the Second Coming happen at the same time on the last day of this age and are the same event.
There is no reason, biblically, to overthink and complicate these verses and insert a separate rapture that happens before the Second Coming. Just because a teaching is popular does not make it right.
D. What about the Antichrist?
The word antichrist, with its prefix anti-, can mean either “in place of Christ” or “opposed to Christ.” The Antichrist will say he is the Christ, the one who comes in the place of the true Christ. Replacing Christ is about the same as opposing him. Either way, the man of lawlessness will work signs and wonders and deceive unredeemed people:
9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. (2 Thess. 2:9-10, NIV)
First John 2:18 assumes that the Antichrist is coming, but many of them have already appeared:
18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. (1 John 2:18, NIV)
The many antichrists will deny that Jesus is the Son of God. Islam denies this. Be on the look out for those who deny the Son.
Is the man of lawlessness the same as the Antichrist? Probably. Paul writes:
Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers and sisters, 2 not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come. 3 Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. 4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. (2 Thess. 2:1-4)
In addition to the appearing of the man of lawlessness, another sign of the end times is the great rebellion. It should better be translated as apostasy. Most importantly the coming of Jesus and the Thessalonians and Paul being gathered with the Lord assumes that these Christians will be alive when the Lord returns to destroy him, as seen in this verse that continue from the previous passage:
8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. (2 Thess. 2:8)
He is probably the same as the beast in Revelation 13. In Revelation 20:9, a fire came down from heaven and devoured Satan and his cohort, much as it says in 2 Thessalonians 1:7 (see above, under Epistles and Paul) and 2:8.
The Antichrist will exist, and the church will see him, for there is no rapture to take it out of the way before the Antichrist comes.
E. What about a literal thousand-year reign?
I comment in a later post on the various doctrines of the millennium, but let’s briefly discuss an eschatological teaching circulating around the church today, the American Church in particular.
3 Dispensationalism, Tribulation, Return of Christ, and the Millennium
A thousand-year reign is also called a millennium (mill = thousand and enn- = related to year).
In Jesus’s teaching throughout the four Gospels, there is no word on a literal thousand-year reign with two comings and “several first” resurrections and two or more “final” judgments. If he believed in it as so important, he should have taught it. But he did not teach it. Therefore he did not believe in a literal millennium at all. It was not important to him because he did not conceive of it. If the apostolic community in Acts and the epistles had believed in it and considered it to be vital to their eschatology, they would have taught it clearly. It’s a doctrine that their communities had to know. But they did not teach it at all. Therefore they did not believe in it, so how could it be important to them?
Instead, the Gospels, Acts and epistles present a streamlined and unified picture of the return of Christ, the Second Coming.
The one passage in the epistles that mentions a thousand years is 2 Peter 3:8, and the meaning of the number is fluid, flexible: “With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day” (NIV). So this number is symbolic and nonliteral, even in the epistolary genre. It merely means a long time.
Where is the literal thousand year reign which the most symbolic book in the Bible (the Revelation) alone teaches, in a few verses in chapter 20 (vv. 4-7)? The modern teachers of the literal thousand years claim that unredeemed people will live and die and breed during this idyllic thousand years. But I see nothing in the NT that says this will happen.
And so in the most symbolic book of the Bible, a thousand years merely means a long time.
And so the day of the Lord (= the Second Coming and final judgment) will be the final day for planet earth. And then God will recreate the new heavens and the new earth. (See a later post on this, too.)
F. What about preterism?
This term means “before” or “already.” An event has already passed by or already happened before our time or point of view. So in this context a partial preterist believes that many of the events described in the Olivet Discourse, for example, have already been fulfilled, while others have not.
See this post for the Olivet Discourse:
“Full preterism” says that all the events have been fulfilled, even the Second Coming in the future from now! The Second Coming already happened. For example, a video on youtube says Christ has already come, so there is no need for him to return again, even in the future. Everything has already happened.
However, I regard this interpretation to be a misreading of Scripture. The global, visible Second Coming that will change everything has not yet happened. Here are two sample verses.
The first epistle of John was written in the 90’s, long after the destruction of the temple in A.D. 70 and long after Paul and Peter lived (they died before the destruction). It says of the Second Coming: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:2-3). Therefore, in the early 90’s the Lord did not yet return. The early church was waiting for it in their days.
Revelation 1:7 seems to pose a problem. It reads: “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.” How can the Roman soldiers who pierced him stand with those at the end of the earth? It seems to me that this verse refers to a long time lag, between the cross and the outreach to the whole world. There’s a wide chronological distance between the two eschatological time frames or bookends. The Roman soldiers will see him when they are reunited with bodies and see him descend and are judged (John 5:28-29).
Alternatively, they will see him with the eyes of faith when he comes in judgment on Jerusalem and the temple, which happened in A.D. 66-70. This implies that the Revelation was written before the destruction, which some Bible interpreters believe.
And then the Apostles Creed was written long, long after the NT, and it tells us to confess that Jesus will come back to judge the living and the dead.
2 Apostles Creed + Very Brief Commentary
The Athanasian Creed also tells us to confess that he will return to judge the living and the dead.
13 Athanasian Creed and Commentary
(Incidentally, neither creed teaches a pretribulation, secret rapture, but one Second Coming.)
Finally, the new heaven and new earth has not appeared, as seen in Revelation 21-22. Full preterism is heretical
G. What about Israel?
God raises up and deposes kings and rules over kingdoms (Dan. 2:21; 4:17). Israel became a nation in 1948, so God ordained this to happen. Why? So the Israeli citizens can hear the gospel in Hebrew. Jews need salvation every bit as desperately as anyone else,
Then this passage clarifies the issue:
6 Those who were gathered asked him, saying, “Lord, is this the time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7 But he said to them, “It is not for you to know the times and seasons that the Father set by his own authority. 6 Those who were gathered asked him, saying, “Lord, is this the time you are restoring the kingdom to Israel?” 7 But he said to them, “It is not for you to know the times and seasons that the Father set by his own authority. 8 Instead, you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you shall be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” (Acts 1:6-8)
Luke wants to draw a clear line between the mission to the world and the localized concern about their homeland, Israel. Our task is to fulfill God’s mission to the world.
“times and seasons”: The first noun is chronos (pronounced kroh-nohs) is where we get our words chronology and chronic. It speaks of a timeline, one event or moment after another. The noun kairos (pronounced ky-rohs) means “season” and has a nuance of “quality time.” In this context, it is combined with chronos, so both words together probably mean “end times” (Dan. 2:21; 7:12). The main point that Jesus drives home is not to obsess over the end times. And so in vv. 6-8, Jesus submits watching the times and seasons to the Great Commission (Matt. 28:18-20).
Do vv. 6-7 imply that God will restore the kingdom to geopolitical Israel? Or did he rebuke them and tell them it is none of their business, without explicitly promising the kingdom will be restored to geopolitical Israel? In the larger perspective, the kingdom will not be confined to geopolitical Israel.
Any teaching that says we are called to understand the times and seasons is wrongheaded, as I heard a radio teacher say recently. Perhaps he desperately wants the kingdom restored to geopolitical Israel, so he overturned Jesus’ exhortation not to focus on those things.
Clearly it cannot be overlooked that Israel became a nation in 1948—not that this even was predicted by Jesus—but now God can do what he pleases with this nation. Our task is to fulfill God’s mission to the world.
God does not focus on Israel, but he does not ignore it, either; rather his mission and focal point is on his Son and his church, for only this living body can preach the gospel to the whole world.
H. What are the signs of the end times?
I can find only these in the Gospels and epistles:
- Degradation of society, as in the days of Noah and Sodom (Matt. 24:37; Luke 17:26-29)
- An Antichrist figure or a man of lawlessness, who will be able to work satanic signs and wonders (2 Thess. 2:8-12); we could also place here false prophets and messiahs, who seem to emerge in every generation.
- Great apostasy (2 Thess. 2:11)
- Revival and growth of the true body of Christ, as God fills and purifies his bride (Eph. 4:7-13)
- The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. (1 Tim. 4:1-2, NIV) These verses look like the degradation of the days of Sodom and Noah.
As for the natural disasters in the Revelation and in Matthew 24:29 (and parallels), they are an expansion of the natural disasters in many passages in the OT, some of which says the earth split in two, the stars fell from the sky, or the sun went dark, for example. They are not to be taken literally, or else the entire universe and our globe would have been shredded and ruined, irreparably, long before now. Those passages are about apocalyptic images revealing God’s judgment on nations, just like the Revelation is about God’s judgment on evil empires or systems (e.g. Rome). Of course images of cosmic natural disasters would likewise be depicted in the final book of the Bible as in the OT.
Please see this post for many passages showing cosmic disasters in the OT:
Cosmic Disasters = Apocalyptic Imagery for Judgment and Major Change
VIII. Application
A. The beauty of simplicity
This post enjoys the beauty of simplicity by eliminating all the complications that popular end-time Bible prophecy teachers have been imposing on the Gospels, Acts, and epistles for decades—over a century. I hope to reach and teach the younger generations and all other open-minded people of all generations. They need clear biblical teaching on this subject.
B. Clarity of Scripture
Clarity guides the unclear portions of Scripture. Let’s not reverse-engineer the simple eschatology of the Gospels, Acts and epistles by imposing the contested and complicated book of the Revelation on them. Keep the plain thing the main thing in hermeneutics (science of interpretation), and let the clear verses guide our interpretation of the unclear ones. Then we will have clarity, simplicity and consistency in our eschatology.
C. Live pure lives
First John 3:2-3 says:
“Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 John 3:2-3).
The Second Coming will happen in God’s time. We don’t need to be scared of it, nor do we get to live a life of sin, because we think we can get away with it. No, the Scriptures tell us everywhere to live godly lives. And we don’t need to be scared into living such lives, either. First John 3:3 says it is the hope (not the fear) of his appearing that causes us to purify our lives.
D. No angry quarreling over eschatology
In these eschatological discussions, let’s remember this wise slogan:
“In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity (love).”
We should not break fellowship with those with whom we differ in eschatological matters. It is not a tier-one issue like Christ’s lordship or salvation in him are, for example.
RELATED
Cosmic Disasters = Apocalyptic Imagery for Judgment and Major Change
Luke 17:22-37: Taken Away = Rapture? (I also briefly look at Matthew’s version)
Rapture = Second Coming and Happen at Same Time on Last Day
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Dr. Jim's Essential Bible Teaching 